CHARLOTTE, N.C.—The University of North Carolina-Charlotte recently installed an IP intercom system to increase safety response times and notify the entire campus during an emergency.

An electrical explosion in 2006 exposed the need for an intercom system, said Steve Clark, director of classroom support. Staff went building-to-building posting notices of the explosion. "We realized then that this wasn't the best way to alert the campus," Clark said.

UNCC installed nearly 350 Digital Acoustics IP intercoms to provide support to the school's 21,000 students and 1,400 faculty members across the 1,000-acre campus.

UNCC will continue adding more intercoms this year, said Bill Vernon, vice president of sales for Digital Acoustics. Officials can use the solution for mass notifications using a recorded voice instead of an alarm, which increases student and faculty reactions, he said.

"What we've found is that schools need to have a whole system," Vernon said. "In the event of a natural or manmade disaster, the school needs a way to alert the entire campus to mitigate those risks."

UNCC originally installed the system to quickly respond to classroom technical support issues but quickly realized its security value for mass notification and an avenue to quicken police response times, Clark said.

"We figured out that folks were more than willing to push that button for anything they needed whether it was for medical issues or any other problems within the classrooms," Clark said.

Clark's technical support staff has responded to several medical emergencies, including a student having a diabetic seizure. The system will work the same way for an emergency if there is an assault, Clark said. A person can push the intercom button and immediately be connected with a technician who will reroute the call to the campus police department.