An alarm clock for terror warnings made in Schleswig-Holstein

The Flensburg-based electronics company 2wcom has used technology from all over Schleswig-Holstein to develop a radio-controlled early warning system. Even within the US Government, interest is rising.

Flensburg. With a co-production from all over Schleswig-Holstein, a small team of highly qualified engineers from Flensburg is currently conquering a very sensitive market – the growing global business with the fear of terrorists. Electronics producer 2wcom has partnered with companies in Norther Frisia, Eastern Holstein and Flensburg to develop and produce this warning alarm clock/radio of which the Flensburg-based company has just delivered 15,000 units to the Swedish Civil Defense Service. “Räddnings Verket“ is equipping the households in a region surrounding the nuclear power plant Barsebäck, in order to be able to notify the population within seconds, should an incident occur.

The alarm clock switches on automatically in the event of a governmental warning – no matter whether it was turned on or not. The device does not even have to be connected to the power supply, as its rechargeable batteries allow for more than 60 hours of operation without being connected to the network. 2wcom’s Managing Director Werner Drews is fully convinced by his alarm clock, which from a technological perspective is far more complicated than it looks: “This is the only device in the world with two tuners that can react to warning signals.” One tuner is used to receive regular radio broadcasts, the other one uses RDS (Radio Data System), which in turn uses the broadcasting corporations’ transmission stations. Its exclusive purpose is to react to a warning signal. If the Civil Defense Service wants to broadcast a message using the RDS warning device, e.g. after an incident in a nuclear power plant, the radio is automatically switched to loud and the volume can no longer be tuned down. The company’s name 2wcom stands for "two way communication", referring to wireless communication via radio transmission and wired communication via the Internet.

International interest in the alarm clocks for terror warnings seems to be large. The developers from Flensburg have already presented their invention in Spain, and even the USA is showing interest: “The USA is very interested in a combined warning receiver for dangers resulting from weather and terrorism.” Drews and his partners are already in contact with the new US security agency, the Homeland Security Service. Compared to competitors, this company from Northern Germany has a real advantage of location in the USA. After an early order for the remote control of a large truck fleet, 1000 radio stations in the US have already been equipped with the transmitters from Flensburg. The German Civil Defense Office and the Federal Ministry of the Interior have also requested further information. With its product, 2wcom was at the right place at the right time: “We received the order from Sweden on September 9, 2001”, says Drews.

The Scandinavians have already secured an option for another 20,000 units – each order further ensuring workplaces in companies throughout various regions of Schleswig-Holstein: The tooling to die cast the device’s shell was built by Eiderstedter Präzisionswerken in Oldenswort. It weighs a whole ton and consists of two parts. “The template for the first shell cost 100,000 Euro, each further one 1.50”, says Drews. The plastic casting machine for the shell is operated by Internova in Malente: “Every second, our device’s shells come out in four parts.” They are printed in Handewitt. And the circuit boards are mounted in Flensburg by AMS, the company that also integrates the speakers. The entire engineering and software, however, remains in-house. For partnerships, Drews prefers short distances within the region: “We could have built the shell in Bavaria, but that would never have worked out.”