US university provides 'improved' emergency VoIP solutions

A US university has introduced an application which can identify a VoIP hardware user's location, it has been revealed.

Coppin State University, in Maryland, has implemented the technology which allows staff to track down the exact location of an emergency call, reports businessweek.com.

The institution introduced the new IP telephony solutions in January, which uses eTelemetry's locate appliance to tie a log-in name to a port.

Once an emergency call is made, IT services are presented with all the information they need to track the call, including the building's address, floor number and the area of the floor the call was made from.

DrAhmed El-Haggan, university chief information officer, claimed that the move was not motivated by the possible financial gains.

He told the website: "Imagine you save one person's life. How much money is that worth? Sometimes people's decisions are driven by regulatory and compliance issues.

"If there's not a law, they don't pay attention to it. We wanted to do what was right, period."

The previous VoIP system at the university could only trace a caller's location to the main university address, resulting in emergency staff often wasting time searching for those in trouble.