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SMS speeds round-up of sailors
THE Royal Australian Navy is using a mobile communication system that offers a high level of security for contacting personnel in times of emergency, such as a recall to base.
The technology enables the navy to contact sailors and officers on shore leave quickly so it can respond to incidents, such as when HMAS Kanimbla went to provide assistance after the Boxing Day tsunami.
HMAS Kuttabul employs more than 2100 active officers and sailors and caters to 10 ships and more than 50 operational units.
Alacrity chief executive Adrian Tatham said the closed-loop environment for wireless mobile system, which went live in December, could be used to contact many HMAS Kuttabul staff.
Previously, HMAS Kuttabul's in-house emergency and evacuation communication process involved manually calling, emailing or SMS-ing staff.
Under the three-year contract using the platform a message is created on a server and sent to participants' mobile phones.
The message looks like a SMS on the phone but actually contains a dynamic link to the navy's back-end system.