Nashua, New Hampshire (PRWEB) July 16, 2014 -- Ping4alerts!, the first app to leverage the Ping4 Inc. location services API, announced today that is has been named a finalist in the mobile application category of the 2014 Mass Technology Leadership Council (MassTLC) Technology Leadership Awards.
“Our congratulations to the finalists of the 17th annual MassTLC Leadership Awards,” said Tom Hopcroft, president and CEO of Mass Technology Leadership Council. “Each one is an example of the executive leadership, business acumen and technological innovation fueling Massachusetts’ economy and changing the world. No matter which of the 2014 MassTLC Technology Leadership Award finalists emerge as winners in their respective categories, collectively they underscore the depth and breadth of talent in our region and we are proud to be associated with you all.”
Ping4alerts! is a free iOS and Android app that uses the location based technology inherent in today’s smartphones to deliver push notifications within a highly-localized area. Using any web-based browser, an agency or organization can draw a shape on a map as small as a building or as large as the world to push a notification to mobile devices. Not only is ping4alerts! able to deliver these alerts based on a user’s current location, but does so anonymously. In the downloading process, users do not provide any personally identifiable information such as a name, home, or email address.
“Over the past two years, the engineering team has worked together to improve the platform’s functionality, design, and overall performance, while adding other useful components for our customers and end users,” said Mark Sexton, VP of Engineering. “Being recognized as a finalist by the MassTLC is a validation that our efforts have made a significant impact not just to our company, but in the market space.”
The Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency was the first agency to adopt the platform and it was utilized during high-profile events such as Hurricane Sandy, Winter Storm Nemo, and the Boston Marathon Manhunt in Watertown. It is also used by the Worcester County Sheriff’s Office and Nantucket. Ping4alerts! has been deployed statewide by North Dakota and several agencies across the country in Florida, Utah, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, Alabama, and Georgia.
Since the initial release, the company’s engineering team has enhanced the product to include features beneficial to emergency management agencies such as Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) capabilities and Social Media integration. On the end-user side, ping4alerts! offers free NOAA weather alerts. In April, the app added a map-based feature showing precisely where sex offenders live, their name, physical description, photograph, and qualifying offenses in proximity to the user’s current location. Users can also set watched locations for other, fixed locations such as home, school, and work.
“This award proves two things for us: the strength of our engineering team, and the power of our location API,” said Norm Archer, VP of Marketing. “If we can satisfy homeland security customers, think about the value our technology can add by powering real-time, location specific messaging for other apps in commercial markets.”
Finalists were selected from hundreds of nominations, as judged by panels of executives, investors, analysts, media and thought leaders in each of the 16 categories who participated in the selection process. The pool of finalists will be further narrowed during the coming weeks, with winners announced on Thursday, September 11, at the MassTLC Leadership Awards Gala at the Westin Waterfront in Boston.
About Ping4 Inc.
Ping4 Inc. is a mobile communications company that delivers real-time, location-based alerts to any iOS or Android mobile device. Public safety agencies license the platform to keep citizens informed of extreme weather events and other fast-moving situations. User identity is 100% protected as no personally identifiable information is required when downloading the app. For more information, please visit http://www.ping4.com.
