By Rhonda Spears
April 28, 2003

New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin announced at a press conference in New Orleans April 16, that, as part of his safe city strategy, the city has contracted with Intrado to provide IntelliCast^SM Target Notification services to his citizens. Nagin was joined at the press conference by Conference Executive Director J. Thomas Cochran, and David Whitten, the Senior Vice President for Intrado.

IntelliCast^SM Target Notification is a telephone-based emergency notification tool used by mayors and public safety officials to rapidly identify, notify and instruct affected individuals in crisis situations from hurricane's to missing children.

Nagin said, "The IntelliCast^SM Target Notification system is a critical addition to our emergency management and public safety plans. IntelliCast^SM will enable public safety officials to quickly and cost-effectively inform thousands of citizens of weather and security-related situations."

The need for this system became evident last year shortly after Nagin took office. During hurricane season, New Orleans was struck by two significant tropical storms where the mayor called for an evacuation for one area of the city. With IntelliCast^SM, the mayor will be able to call residents with a recorded and targeted evacuation message.

Cochran said, "The IntelliCast^SM emergency notification system provides Mayor Nagin with some of the critical tools needed to help keep this city and its citizens safe. Mayors across this nation remain on the front line of defense in securing and safeguarding America's cities."

This system can also be used for other emergency notifications such as terrorist alerts, hazardous materials spills, child abductions or escaped prisoners. Terry Ebbert, Executive Assistant to Mayor Nagin for Homeland Security said, "This is a major upgrade to our homeland security efforts as it has great capability to pass security and public safety information."

New Orleans is the first city to announce its addition of the IntelliCast^SM Target Notification system since Intrado's announcement as a new corporate partner of the U.S. Conference of Mayors this past January.

For more information on Intrado's IntelliCast^SM Target Notification system, please call Rhonda Spears at the Conference of Mayors at (202) 861-6794 or email rspears@usmayors.org, or call Lilla Hammond at (301) 460-5251 or email lhammond@usmayors.org.