As the nation begins its healing process following the tragic events at Virginia Tech, a number of companies have come forward with proposals as to how to avert such an event in the future. For instance, MDI Inc., a provider of Unified Technology solutions for the security industry, has the ability to deliver a state-of-the-art system to provide safety and protection for our nation's school campuses. Through its participation in Learn Safe, a program initiated and managed by Stratis Authority, the two companies have teamed up to address dangerous situations as soon as they happen by isolating a threat, and thereby keeping that threat from the rest of a building or campus.

The MDI system tracks the movement of threats enabling authorities to know where a threat is and where the threat has been as well as which students are in proximity to the threatened location. All threats can be brought to an operator's attention because of the ability of users to program the MDI system to their own particular needs.

Another firm, TechRadium, markets its IRIS (immediate response information system) that is able to alert thousands of people simultaneously and then receive responses that confirm that the messages have been received. The company's immediate response notification systems send messages through multiple communications devices including landline telephones, cell phones, e-mail, pagers, and PDAs — which is to say virtually any communications device that is connected to the Internet or telephone network.

In still another offering, Global Security Systems is able to deliver the Alert FM system to universities, colleges and other institutes of higher education. Alert FM is a personal alert messaging system that enables campus administrators, emergency management personnel and police to create and send notifications to students, staff, first responders and citizens. The FM signal offers a unique advantage in that it has coverage for areas where cell signals may not operate.