Disaster and Emergency Warning Network (DEWN) Gets Global Recognition
Colombo, Sri Lanka, 14th February 2007, Dialog Telekom Sri Lanka’s flagship telecommunications company has received a Commendation Award from the GSM Association at the GSM Global Mobile Awards in Barcelona, Spain this week.
Dialog Telekom together with its technology partners - leading Sri Lankan Software Developer – Microimage, and the Dialog - University of Moratuwa Mobile Communications Research Laboratory have been commended in the category of ‘Best Use of Mobile for Social & Economic Development’, the same category in which Nokia, China Mobile, Grameen Phone and the International Trade Centre (UNCTAD / WTO) also participated. Dialog Telekom already has the distinction of having won three consecutive awards at the GSM World Awards – popularly referred to as the “Mobile Oscars”, for technological innovations that benefit society.
Rob Conway, CEO of the GSM Association said, “The 2007 Awards attracted the greatest number of entries in the 12 year history of the competition. To be recognised for excellence at this level is an achievement of which you can be justifiably proud. My congratulations on behalf of the GSMA - we wish you every continued success.”
With a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) having recently been signed between the Disaster Management Centre Sri Lanka and Dialog Telekom, DEWN is currently being piloted for rollout within this year. Dr. Hans Wijayasuriya, Director/Chief Executive Dialog Telekom, commenting on the initiation and development of this project said “Dialog Telekom initiated this project, following the destruction caused by the Tsunami in December 2004, as our contribution to the nation towards finding a long term solution to mitigate future disasters.
We have continuously leveraged GSM technology for the enrichment and empowerment of the lives of people in Sri Lanka. With our partners, Microimage and the Dialog University of Moratuwa Research Laboratory, we developed and created DEWN - Sri Lanka’s first formal mass alert system, I would like to thank our partners Microimage and the Dialog University of Moratuwa Research Laboratory for their inspired and innovative contribution, and absolute dedication to this project.
Today, through our network alone we can reach over 3.2 million people. Our network proved invaluable in the evaluation and location process following the Tsunami – so it was a natural step for us to develop something that would alert and therefore protect people before a tragedy occurred.”
DEWN – developed by Dialog Telekom, Microimage and the Dialog-UoM Mobile Communications Laboratory has gained local and international recognition during the course of 2006 – having being featured at the innovation zone at the GSM Asia Conference and Exhibition in Singapore and having won a range of awards including the ‘Overall Gold’ at the National Best Quality Software Awards, conducted by the British Computer Society (Sri Lanka Chapter).
DEWN will enable disaster warning information to be communicated securely and instantaneously to emergency personnel and mobile phone users anywhere in the country. In the event of a potential disaster, directed alerts can be sent initially to emergency personnel to their special software enabled java and symbion hand-sets, and then if necessary, to all mobile-phone users through mass alerts and purpose built GSM alarm devices.
DEWN is part of Dialog Telekom’s multifaceted Corporate Responsibility thrust, focusing on enriching the nation through inclusion.
Dialog Telekom is a member of the Telekom Malaysia Group, and is an ISO 9001 certified company. The company operates 2.5G GSM and 3rd Generation (3G) Mobile Networks supporting the very latest in multimedia and mobile Internet services. Its local coverage spans all provinces while international roaming is provided in 190+ countries. Dialog Telekom, the largest and fastest growing cellular service in Sri Lanka, serves a subscriber base in excess of 3.2 Million Sri Lankans.
Web: www.dialog.lk
