Blackberry issues updates to 'AtHoc'; its crisis communication platform

Canadian smartphone maker BlackBerry on Wednesday updated its crisis communication platform "AtHoc" with enhanced mobile alert functionality, upgraded map-based experiences for emergency operators and other performance improvements. "AtHoc" enables organisations to communicate with people through numerous devices and empowers those to create their own permission-based network to establish interoperable communication with other organisations in the community."By automating this process and reducing the burden of translations, we are helping organisations reach personnel quickly during a crisis, without language becoming a barrier when response time is critical," said Oded Shekel, Vice President of Product Management at BlackBerry AtHoc, in a statement."AtHoc" now delivers up to 50 per cent faster page loads in the product areas used most often, taking less time to start communication during a crisis to keep people and organisations safe. New custom map layering makes targeting users faster for global organisations and includes native language support for international customers that leads to improved safety during a crisis.BlackBerry announced last year that it will be leaving the hardware business and focus on software services. Apart from mobile and enterprise security services, the company has been working on secure networked crisis communication platform which is heading its way to India. The decision comes right after the events of Chennai Cyclone that had an impact on the city’s connectivity in December last year.With inputs from IANS