Geo-redundant and high reliability commercial mobile alert system (CMAS)

A commercial mobile alert system (CMAS), comprising:

• a cell broadcast entity to handle an emergency alert message to be transmitted via a cell broadcast center;
• a cell broadcast center (CBC) server farm comprising a plurality of CBC servers is configured to accept said emergency alert message from said cell broadcast entity;
• and
• a base station controller (BSC) in communication with said plurality of CBC servers, said BSC configured to receive said emergency alert message from only one of said plurality of CBC servers.

A commercial mobile alert system (CMAS), comprising:

• a cell broadcast entity to handle an emergency alert message to be transmitted via a cell broadcast center;
• a cell broadcast center (CBC) server farm comprising a plurality of CBC servers is configured to accept said emergency alert message from said cell broadcast entity;
• and
• a radio network controller (RNC) in communication with said plurality of CBC servers, said RNC configured to receive said emergency alert message from only one of said plurality of CBC servers.

A method of global load balancing achieved by distributing traffic between two commercial mobile alert system (CMAS) sites via a DNS name resolution process, comprising:

• querying a primary domain name server (DNS) for an address of a content management service provider (CMSP) gateway, and if said primary DNS is not available, querying a secondary DNS;
• sending an address resolution request either to a first site load balancer, or to a second site load balancer, using a load balance scheme;
• and
• returning a virtual IP to a querying source of an emergency alert message.

Apparatus for achieving global load balancing by distributing traffic between two commercial mobile alert system (CMAS) sites via a DNS name resolution process, comprising:

• means for querying a primary domain name server (DNS) for an address of a commercial mobile service provider (CMSP) gateway, and if said primary DNS is not available, querying a secondary DNS;
• means for sending an address resolution request either to a first site load balancer, or to a second site load balancer, using a load balance scheme;
• and
• means for returning a virtual IP to a querying source of an emergency alert message.

A method of global load balancing achieved by distributing traffic between two commercial mobile alert system (CMAS) sites via global load balancing, comprising:

• a primary CMSP gateway at a first site;
• a secondary CMSP gateway at a second site;
• and
• a federal alert gateway configured to broadcast emergency alert messages to a first IP address associated with said primary CMSP gateway, and with a second IP address associated with said secondary CMSP gateway;
• wherein a first global load balancer at said first site communicates directly with both said primary CMSP gateway and said secondary CMSP gateway;
• and
• wherein a global load balance scheme is achieved wherein the load of emergency alert messaging is distributed across all CMSP servers.

A cell broadcast center regional approach, comprising:

• assigning each of a plurality of cell broadcast centers (CBCS) to a respective BSC/RNC of a specific region of a public land mobile network (PLMN);
• performing geo-targeting by sending an emergency alert message to a BSC/RNC in a specific region that is in an alert target area of said emergency alert message;
• and
• dropping said emergency alert message by a given CBC if said alert target area has no overlap with a region controlled by said given CBC;
• wherein CMSP gateway server farms always send alert messages received from a federal alert gateway to CBCs in all regions regardless of desired target area of a given emergency alert message.