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WirelessDevNet.com Press Release
SMS-Text Messages Help Croydon Breathe Easily
KAPOW!, the UK's first SMS gateway, today announced that it has helped implement and launch a pilot SMS-text service called airTEXT for Croydon Council. This enables the council to provide residents with up-to-date information on air quality to their mobile phones.
airTEXT is the first scheme of its kind in the UK and has funding from the European Space Agency's PROMOTE project, which is using satellite technology to improve air-quality forecasting. airTEXT brings this technology literally down to earth by sending SMS air-pollution alerts, based on these air-quality forecasts, to vulnerable groups such as asthmatics and people with bronchitis, emphysema and heart disease, warning them of a deterioration in air quality and giving simple advice on minimising exposure and managing their symptoms.
As air-quality levels can fluctuate from day to day, Croydon Council wanted to keep residents who are sensitive to such changes informed as quickly and effectively as possible. Croydon Council chose KAPOW! as its technology enables organisations to deliver bulk or individually-targeted text messages instantaneously. In this case, SMS-text alerts are sent to the mobile phones of people who have signed up for the service the day before a change in air quality levels is expected.
Andrew Cowles, technical director at KAPOW!, said: "Using SMS technology in this way shows the potential it has as a tool for the public sector as well as business and that it is no longer just a means of social person-to-person communication. KAPOW! is delighted to have been selected by Croydon Council to help implement the airTEXT project. This service will help to improve people's health and quality of life, as well as help reduce costs to the NHS."
Stephen Potter, specialist pollution team manager at Croydon Council, said: "KAPOW! has been hugely instrumental in helping us get the airTEXT service on its feet. As airTEXT is a publicly-funded project, reliability and value are important so we wanted to know that the messages would be delivered quickly and efficiently. As KAPOW! provides a web-based messaging system it also gives us the flexibility for any number of staff to work on airTEXT remotely and send alerts from wherever they are based. KAPOW!'s website is logical and easy to use and we have been impressed by KAPOW!'s flexibility and the speed with which it has responded to our needs."
For further information on airTEXT, please go to: www.croydon.gov.uk/airtext
About KAPOW! (www.kapow.co.uk)
Launched in 1995 KAPOW! is the UK's first SMS gateway. It provides cost-effective, reliable, high-speed messaging services to meet the broadcast and individual SMS demands of both small and large clients. Its SMS Gateway enables the sending and receipt of text messages between the Internet and mobile phones; using web browsers, email or a simple HTTP interface/API.
KAPOW! is operated by Cygnet Internet Services Ltd and represents the strongest corporate SMS messaging solution on the market today, offering an average UK delivery time of under 5 seconds. KAPOW! clients include Barclays Bank, Volvo IT, KPMG, Reuters, NHS and the London School of Economics.
About airTEXT (www.croydon.gov.uk/airtext)
airTEXT is a two-year pilot project involving Croydon Council, the Health Protection Agency, CERC and Croydon Primary Care Trust. airTEXT is free of charge to participants and sends a text message to their mobile phones the evening before an air pollution episode is expected. Messages explain the various simple steps people can take to reduce the likelihood of any impacts on them. This includes taking inhalers or angina sprays with them, taking extra doses if symptoms worsen, and avoiding strenuous outdoor activity. airTEXT is based on CERC's YourAir service for Croydon, a website which enables people to see exactly what pollution levels are forecast to be, on a
street by street basis. This can help people avoid exposure, for example by not walking or cycling along polluted streets.
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