You know a security technology is popular when Congress creates a grant program specific for its purchase and when people in the street complain when it is not used.

   
Welcome to the growing world of mass notification, technology and procedures often employed during emergencies to get the word out to people who need to know about the situation and what to do next. While the beginnings of mass notification seem to have been phone trees and bullhorns, the most recent generation is smart, electronic and carries messages over myriad means of communications.