Spokane software developer Pentad Systems LLC has developed a computer network-based alarm system, called LANalarm, that it hopes will become the standard for such systems, and that could lead to a 20 percent increase in revenues this year for the company.


The product is a software system that is installed on business, school, or government agency computer systems, called local area networks, or LANs. With the software, employees can trigger an emergency alarm with a mouse click or a couple of key strokes, alerting all other users of the same computer network of the nature and exact location of the emergencysilently or with a sound.


Company President Randy Nichols declines to disclose the companys revenues, but says the product could take the company into the national market over the next few years.


Nichols says Pentad Systems has added four employees over the last year, bringing its total work force to more than 20. The recent hires include an engineer who spends about half of his time adding software features to LANalarm and a sales manager who currently is focusing on selling the product.


With LANalarm, Nichols says the company now has three or four solid products that he believes are ready for the national market.


I see in the next three years we could end up with regional-based sales staff. LANalarm is LANalarm whether youre in Kentucky or Spokane, Nichols says.


He says Pentad Systems has grown steadily since he and partners Jeff Bosma and Mark Barnes founded it in May 2003.


Weve been on a 20 to 30 percent growth curve every year, he says. Its a good growth curve, but weve not wanted to explode yet. We didnt feel we had products ready for prime time, he adds, referring to marketing products nationally.


LANalarm now is about ready for such national exposure, Nichols says. It has been tested at the local office of a Washington state agency for eight months in a pilot project that could lead to a statewide contract, Nichols says. In addition, the program is being used by some private schools here and will be part of a district-wide emergency management test in the Medical Lake School District this spring, he says. Negotiations with other public school districts are ongoing, he says.


Nichols says the LANalarm software is an outgrowth of another software application that Pentad Systems has been selling to medical and dental offices for four years. That application allows a medical office to call a medical professional using a sound produced on a computer, rather than the old-fashioned call lights that used to be mounted over the doors in exam rooms. Nichols says about 100 medical and dental practices are using the original medical version of the software, called the Pentad Bell.


We took the dental and medical model, and modified it. We made it silent instead of audible, and we created a visual panel. When the alarm is initiated, everyone elses computer has a big alarm panel that flashes on their screen, Nichols says. He says only a software administrator can shut the alarm off once it is triggered, preventing someone from inadvertently shutting off their alarm without seeing it.


Nichols says Pentad Systems customizes the software and installs it on a companys network, with no additional hardware needed to operate it. The main program is loaded onto one of the companys networked computers, and client software is loaded on all of the other computers on that network. Nichols says The Oaks, a private school in Spokane Valley, uses a computer in its front office for the main program. Each individual computer that is connected to the system is assigned a logical name that identifies its location, so if a person sets off the alarm from that computer, everyone else on the system sees the alarm and where its coming from, Nichols says.


The system can be customized for a client, Nichols says. For example, the state agency chose two different types of alarms to be displayed on its user screens. One of those alarms flashes an evacuate the building message, in case of an emergency such as a fire or bomb threat, and the other flashes a Please help me message, in case of a medical emergency or potential assault, Nichols says. A third type of alarm used frequently by schools is a lockdown notice.


The alarm is broadcast only on the computer network, and to a designated security person who would determine whether to call for outside help.


He says other network-type alarm systems use instant-messaging or e-mail technology, which dont give the immediate notification that LANalarm does. He says a lot of universities have begun asking students to register their cell phone numbers for text-message alerts in case of an emergency, but it takes time for a security officer to broadcast such a message.


LANalarm would be useful in educational settings, where there is usually a computer in every classroom, he says.


The software is priced in two different ways, Nichols says. Users can license it for between 50 cents and $1.50 a month for each computer on which it will be loaded, or they can buy the software outright at a cost of between $500 and $10,000, depending on how many computers would be on the system, he says.


Other Pentad products Nichols says are ripe for the national market are business software systems. One is for managing equipment maintenance, another is for time clock and payroll use, and a third is a business training module, he says. Pentad Systems is preparing to sign an agreement for its equipment maintenance management software with an aluminum company in Iceland, he says.


Pentads Spokane office is located at 17 W. Falcon Ave., near Whitworth University, and the company recently added a Portland office to market its products. The company offers Web site design and Web hosting in addition to its software products.


Contact Jeanne Gustafson at (509) 344-1264 or via e-mail at jeanneg@spokanejournal.com.