REDCOM Laboratories, Inc. has loaned its secure conferencing solution and professional services to the Monroe County Office of Emergency Management to help enhance communications during the COVID-19 crisis.

As the county tries to limit the number of people on-site, the need for real-time communication and conferencing tools has increased dramatically. The county’s existing conferencing solution presented several ease-of-use challenges, especially as the number of participants increased. Notably, there was no visual means of monitoring or controlling each conference. Automated announcements would constantly interrupt conversations whenever a user entered or left, and conference organizers had no way to mute individual attendees. Clearly, these technical challenges made it difficult to coordinate resources during an emergency scenario.

REDCOM’s Derwin Melendez-Diaz and Dave Conover set up the REDCOM Sigma Conference Manager at the Monroe County Emergency Management Offices.

REDCOM quickly took action, deploying three of the company’s experts to consult with the county. With the county’s technical staff already busy managing other emergencies, REDCOM donated its team and professional services in order to get REDCOM Conference Manager — a part of REDCOM Sigma® call control software — installed and running on the county’s servers within hours.

“The REDCOM conferencing system is allowing us to focus on the content of the conversation and managing the emergency without interruptions or distractions,” said Tim Kohlmeier, Deputy Public Safety Director and Emergency Manager, Office of Emergency Management. “We’re impressed by how quickly the REDCOM system was set up and how easy it is to use.”

By leveraging the REDCOM Conference Manager, county officials now have a visual overview of all conference attendees, viewable from a web browser. The conference organizer can manually mute participants with loud background noise, and even has the ability to join/split conferences or initiate a conference with a single click. The system will remain in operation at least through the duration of the COVID-19 crisis.

About REDCOM

REDCOM Laboratories, Inc., a 2020 Rochester Top Workplace, is a woman-owned small business that specializes in the design and manufacture of advanced tactical and strategic communications solutions with a focus on security, reliability, and interoperability. REDCOM’s customers include all branches of the military, government agencies, emergency responders, integrators, and telecom service providers.

About the Monroe County Office of Emergency Management

As the County Executive’s Emergency Manager, the Office of Emergency Management (OEM) maintains and administers an integrated Emergency Management program designed to assure a safe environment through prevention/mitigation, readiness, response, and recovery. The OEM plans and coordinates with government and non-government agencies for rapid response in an emergency, and assists towns and villages in the preparation of their emergency response plans.