Since its earliest days, Madison-based Singlewire Software, a provider of technology and services for emergency communications, has been in the business of keeping people safe and informed.
And Pat Scheckel, executive vice president of product management and marketing, said he is hoping that a new partnership with a closely aligned company will further this mission, while also helping offer a meaningful solution to an all-too-troubling recent trend.
In June, Singlewire executives announced a partnership with Fire Door Solutions, a Kansas-based manufacturing company known for its range of fire protection equipment for fighting fires.
More recently, Fire Door has launched a namesake barricade product, Fire Door Armor, which will be used in tandem with Singlewire’s mass notification service, branded as InformaCast. (InformaCast is an emergency notification system designed to deliver mass crisis alerts and notifications to a variety of mobile & on-site devices).
The new product, featuring both of the companies’ signature features, has been touted as a solution to defending against active shooters.
“They were looking for a notification partner,” Scheckel said of how the relationship between the two companies was forged. “Our partnership … will give our customers new ways to protect and inform their people about serious threats.”
Here's how it works: Fire Door Armor is a sturdy barricade that can be triggered in just a second. When a handle on the barricade, which is attached to a door, is lifted, it's automatically inserted into a latch on the ground, blocking anyone from bursting in. (You can view a demo of the product here). When the barricade is activated, the integrated InformaCast immediately kicks in, sending out a mass notification to security entities.
In a statement, Donnie Thomas, president of Fire Door Solutions, said the agreement gives his company a greater platform to deliver on its mission of offering effective tools in keeping people safe.
“By partnering with Singlewire, we’re able to combine the power of physical and virtual safety tools into one powerful solution,” Thomas said in the statement.
For Singlewire, the partnership with Fire Door is the latest chapter for a still burgeoning company that traces its roots back to 2001 when it was under the auspices of Berbee Information Networks.
A firm known as CDW Corporation acquired Berbee in 2006, and Singlewire itself was spun off into a separate company three years later.
In the near decade since assuming its own identity, Scheckel said Singlewire has continued its upward momentum — a fact perhaps best represented by its workforce.
At the time of the spinoff, Singlewire’s workforce numbered about 20 employees; today, 100 people work out of the company’s Madison office. The firm moved operations into a larger, expended workspace a year ago to reflect the change.
“What’s really changed for us (in the past decade) is our approach,” Scheckel said, pointing out Singlewire serves a broad spectrum of clients and platforms.
While many of its mass notification system products are geared toward mobile applications, Scheckel said the company also continues to work with an area of the space he said other companies have ignored, which is on-premises systems, including landline phones.
Going after the strictly mobile space, Scheckel said, reaches about 80 percent of the user base.
“It’s nice, but it’s not sufficient,” he said. “This space is highly competitive.”
Scheckel said he and others within Singlewire are pleased with the preliminary response that has arisen through the partnership with Fire Door Solutions.
“The market is welcoming this,” Scheckel said. “This is an example of us broadening our ecosystem, which were looking to do more of.”
