Valor Systems shows dispatch software upgrade at APCO
At the APCO national conference in Nashville, Tenn., Valor Systems, Wheaton, Ill., continued its introduction of its ValorCAD SE (second edition) dispatch software for fire and police departments.
Bill Rendina, Valor’s president, said that a key element of the new software is configurability.
“As we go from state to state, we see different-size agencies with there a commonality, yet with some differences. Rather than have an agency adapt to our software, we can configure close to theirs. If they had another CAD in the past and they call a classification one thing, we can re-label and have tabs with different resources on them. That’s what we’re really hitting on in our new generation. We adapt to their way of doing operations, instead of them adapting to ours,” Rendina said.
Rendina said that among the software’s features are mutual aid, mapping, and linked records, bringing response capability to the next level. He said that advanced usability stems from the concept of configurable buttons and functions.
“ValorCAD allows the dispatcher to quickly assess an emergency and coordinate with local municipalities as needed, so that resources are deployed more efficiently. The system maps the scene, suggests special equipment that may be needed, and calculates recommended units based on many variables including time of day,” he said.
As for why users might choose ValorCad, Rendina said one reason is that it is the latest in Windows NT-based technology that can upgrade the many existing text-based mid-frame applications in the field.
“We’re getting a lot of interest from agencies running systems on mid-frames. This gives them the ability to go to a PC-based Windows environment. Two big things agencies cringe about are the implementation time and cost. They have to dedicate a lot of resources and a couple of months. With our new system we have drastically reduced implementation time frame and the resources required. Our cost is probably one of the least—although not the least—expensive, but what you get in an application is a great price performance for what an inexpensive way to get into CAD. It’s not high-end dollars,” Rendina said.
As part of the ValorCAD SE launch, Valor is upgrading existing customers at no charge. The new version has been deployed in New Hampshire’s statewide emergency bureau. New Hampshire takes all statewide calls at one PSAP, which is linked to more than 100 emergency response sites via ValorCAD software, enabling coordination among agencies.
