Take A Look At: D.E.A.N

Several weeks ago I had the chance to have a conversation with Matthew Beck from PearLabs makers of D.E.A.N (Dynamic Emergency Alert Network). I very much enjoyed chatting with Matt (despite the fact that him being so young and successful made me feel old and busted) and learning about D.E.A.N and the company’s plans for the future.

If you aren’t familiar with D.E.A.N let me quote the company website:

D.E.A.N. is an acronym for Dynamic Emergency Alert Network. The system has been specially designed to rapidly communicate time-sensitive information to several people simultaneously. Whether it is an emergency alert, weather advisory, or general information that must be shared with a large or small group, D.E.A.N. will instantly communicate with you via cell phone instant text messages or by e-mail.

A real world example would be a school alerting parents via text messages and email of early class dismissal because of inclement weather. What I found really cool about chatting with Beck was how much attention the company has paid to making the system simple and easy to use. They’re also acutely aware of any potential spam issues and develop their products to be extremely easy to opt-in and opt-out of.

While D.E.A.N is currently the company’s flagship product they actually started out as a web hosting company and have several other products in the development pipeline. The company is self funded (hosting revenue primarily) though with the growth they’ve planned I’d be surprised if looking for funding in some form or another doesn’t happen soon.

Beck told me they’d soon be launching D.E.A.N 2.0 which will include updates to the interface as well as serious increases in functionality for users. I’ll keep an eye out and let you know what I see and hear on this.