Diebold's alert will help businesses weather the storm

ATM manufacturer Diebold Inc. has added weather alerts to its monitoring capabilities because of the potential for severe weather to knock out companies' vital security systems and to compromise the safety of assets and employees.

Diebold's WeatherAlert service provides customized alerts for severe weather watches and warnings, including notification for tornadoes, thunderstorms, lightning, flash floods, high winds and hurricanes. The service also delivers local weather forecasts up to three times per day through e-mail, text messages or phone calls.

"Weather can certainly impact the safety and security of a business, as well as its employees and customers," Bradley J. Stephenson, vice president of Diebold security solutions, said in a statement.

The service is available to all Diebold end users, and weather notifications are based on a business' exact physical address. Diebold's monitoring center is certified by the Central Station Alarm Association, a trade association based in Vienna, Va.

Diebold, the world's third-largest ATM manufacturer based on annual shipments, is headquartered in Canton, Ohio.