Positive conclusion after the Alert Day in Bavaria and NRW: mecom’s warning systems worked smoothly.
Yesterday morning at 11 a.m., a state-wide Alert Day was held in Bavaria and North Rhine-Westphalia. The interior ministries of the two federal states triggered a test alert to test their critical infrastructure as well as the connection of all relevant alert multipliers and alerting devices.
The Modular Warning System (MoWaS) serves as a central message hub for the control and dissemination of official population alerts. Since 2001, the system has been operated by mecom Medien-Communikations-Gesellschaft mbH for the German Federal Office for Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance (BBK). Consequently, MoWaS was one of the focal points of yesterday’s Alert Day.
“As was the case on the nationwide Alert Day in December 2022, our technical infrastructure again functioned flawlessly and smoothly yesterday,” stated Alexander Feldmann, Managing Director at mecom. “We are very satisfied with the course of the Alert Day in Bavaria and North Rhine-Westphalia and draw a positive conclusion all around.”
Mandy Best, Managing Director at mecom, added, “With the flawless performance of our technical systems, we were able to contribute significantly to the successful course of the Alert Day. Our team once again did an excellent job, ensuring that all systems functioned 100 per cent around the clock every day.”
About the Alert Day in Bavaria and NRW:
On yesterday’s Alert Day, the German federal states of Bavaria and North Rhine-Westphalia tested their warning systems in a joint trial. In the course of the Alert Day, the participating authorities and emergency forces activate different warning systems and alerting devices, such as radio and television, digital city display boards or alerting apps. The existing alerting devices are tested depending on their availability and deployment options. In this way, the technical processes in the event of an alert and also the alerting devices themselves can be checked for their function and for possible weak points.
In the follow-up, the responsible agents make improvements, if necessary, to make the population warning system even safer. Alert Day also serves the purpose of informing people about population alerts and thus raise their awareness of the topic.
About mecom:
mecom Medien-Communikations-Gesellschaft mbH (mecom for short) with headquarters in Hamburg was founded in 1989 and is a joint venture of the news agencies dpa Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH, dpa-AFX Wirtschaftsnachrichten GmbH, KNA Katholische Nachrichten-Agentur GmbH, GEP Gemeinschaftswerk der Evangelischen Publizistik gGmbH with epd and AFP Agence France-Presse GmbH. dpa is the major shareholder and holds a 50 per cent stake in mecom. As a modern IT services provider, mecom designs and operates innovative and customised solutions for professional communication applications. This includes, in particular, the reliable transmission of sensitive data via satellite in broadcast mode or via web technology.
About MoWaS:
mecom develops and operates the Modular Warning System (MoWaS) for the Federal Republic of Germany. This is a powerful warning and communication system used by the federal and state governments to alert and inform the public in civil protection and disaster scenarios. The alerts are transmitted via satellite. As opposed to land-based transmission methods such as VHF or mobile communication, satellite communications are less sensitive to interference such as power outages.
Further information on Alert Day: www.warnung-der-bevoelkerung.de
