Diebold Expands Monitoring Capabilities With New WeatherAlert(SM) Service

NORTH CANTON, Ohio, June 17 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Severe weather has the potential to knock out a business' vital security systems and compromise the safety of its assets and people. To forewarn security managers and business owners about impending weather events affecting their specific business locations, Diebold, Incorporated (NYSE: DBD) has added WeatherAlert(SM) services to its award-winning monitoring capabilities.

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The Diebold WeatherAlert service provides immediate, customized alerts for severe weather and potential natural disaster watches and warnings, including notification of tornadoes, thunderstorms, lightning, flash floods, high winds and hurricanes. In addition, the service can also deliver local weather forecasts up to three times a day. Security managers can receive alerts and forecasts via their preferred channel, including e-mail, text message or phone call notifications.

Unlike services that send alerts based on wide geographic regions, such as counties or cities, Diebold WeatherAlert notifications are based on a business' exact physical address. The precision of the WeatherAlert notifications ensures that security managers receive alerts for only those events that could potentially affect specific locations, helping them better prepare for weather-related emergencies.

"Weather can certainly impact the safety and security of a business, as well as its employees and customers," said Bradley J. Stephenson, vice president, security solutions, Diebold. "The WeatherAlert service is an additional means for Diebold to help businesses secure their enterprises and better protect people and assets. Prompt notification of forecasted weather events enables security managers to react more quickly to situations that may compromise operations or safety."

Upon receiving an alert, a security manager may choose to take precautionary measures or even proactively initiate disaster response and recovery plans. Doing so could help save precious time if the weather-related event could threaten business operations. Action plans may call for keeping occupants inside buildings during tornado warnings or encouraging customers to vacate the premises when severe weather is approaching, but still a safe distance away.

Effective disaster preparation may even involve transfer of local monitoring operations to a back-up monitoring service, such as Diebold's Monitoring Center. If storms or other events compromise normal monitoring operations, Diebold's Monitoring Center could take over. During a power outage, for example, Diebold's trained and certified operators could monitor alarms, verify and escalate events, and dispatch responders – all as defined by response plans customized by site security managers. After the restoration of power, Diebold could then seamlessly switch alarm monitoring back to the local station.

The WeatherAlert service is available to all end users regardless of their service relationship with Diebold. In addition, Diebold Authorized Dealers can offer the WeatherAlert service to their customers through the Diebold Advanced Dealer Program. Weather notification gives dealers an additional monitoring solution in their portfolios, which may also include other leading services from Diebold's Monitoring Center, such as remote video monitoring and storage, managed access control or energy management services.

Diebold's Monitoring Center is Five-Diamond certified by the Central Station Alarm Association (CSAA) and was selected by CSAA as its Central Station of the Year in 2007. In 2010, Frost & Sullivan recognized Diebold as the North American Commercial Monitoring Company of the Year for the second consecutive year. The center is also UL and UL 2050 certified by Underwriters Laboratories.

About Diebold

Diebold, Incorporated is a global leader in providing integrated self-service delivery and security systems and services. Diebold employs more than 16,000 associates with representation in nearly 90 countries worldwide and is headquartered in Canton, Ohio, USA. Diebold is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol 'DBD.' For more information, visit the company's website at www.diebold.com.

SOURCE Diebold, Incorporated