students walking in front of Torgersen Bridge on a snowy day
Students traverse the Blacksburg Virginia Tech campus on a snowy day. Photo by Luke Hayes for Virginia Tech.

VT Alerts is the primary program for providing emergency notifications to the university community. When a VT Alert is sent out, information is distributed by multiple channels, including text messaging, phone calls, emails, the Virginia Tech website, the Virginia Tech status page, and social media updates. Fire alarm annunciators, electronic message boards, desktop Alerts, and outdoor sirens are also used on the Blacksburg campus.

In FY 2023, Network Infrastructure & Services (NI&S) partnered with Virginia Tech Emergency Management (VTEM) to enhance VT Alerts apps and notification methods, and also began reviewing a roadmap for future expansion of the VT Alerts program, particularly in the greater Washington, D.C. area.

On the Blacksburg campus, the VT Alerts program expanded through the deployment of the Annunciator channel in 3 additional buildings. This expansion allows for alerts to be broadcast through more than 7,300 fire alarm speakers throughout campus, increasing the reach of alerts to campus community members who may not have their phones or computers nearby.

VT Alerts: this is a test
A VT Alerts test displays on a digital sign inside a building.

In total, VT Alerts now distributes to the following:

  • 73 Annunciator locations broadcasting to ~7,300 fire alarm speakers
  • 631 Classroom Message Boards
  • Desktop Alerts supporting ~2,814 users
  • Voice Alerts supporting ~1,262 users
  • Email Alerts supporting ~60,200 users

In a separate safety infrastructure initiative, NI&S significantly expanded Virginia Tech’s security camera coverage and capabilities during FY 2023. The group installed 295 new cameras on campus, bringing the total number of cameras to 1,163, with 2,244 lenses — a 34% increase in coverage. Each camera is equipped to hold multiple lenses, which can simultaneously record separate video streams from multiple locations, thus greatly increasing the monitoring capacity for each camera.

Additionally, storage capacity for camera footage was increased from 390 terabytes to 1.25 petabytes. This nearly three-fold increase accommodates for the increased number of video streams, and also provides the storage capacity for the university to capture higher-quality video footage.

Looking ahead, NI&S, VTEM, and the Virginia Tech Police Department are working on plans to expand emergency services to Virginia Tech’s campuses in Northern Virginia. The initial focus is on the Innovation Campus. This location will benefit from the deployment of several dozen security cameras and multiple VT Alerts channels, including physical installations for both VT Alerts message boards and fire alarm annunciators for emergency notifications. The system will be designed to be able to expand emergency services to other VT locations in the region, including the Virginia Tech Research Center in Arlington.