LOS ANGELES, April 18 (Xinhua) -- Universities nationwide are seeking advice on how to deal with future possible shootings after the Virginia Tech massacre that killed 33 people.

    Security on Campus Inc. (SCI), a nonprofit group, had received at least 100 calls from colleges and universities seeking advice on the best way to issue timely warnings, according to the Los Angeles Times on Wednesday.

    Given the circumstances of the Virginia Tech shooting, it's imperative that the school issued that warning immediately, especially when they had a shooter loose on campus, Alison Kiss, SCI program director, was quoted as saying.

    Companies such as Rave Wireless, which provides the Montclair alert system, had received more than 100 inquiries from schools since Monday. About 70 universities plan to start using Rave Wireless products next year, the company said, including the University of North Carolina and the University of Maryland, according to the paper.

    Security experts have urged universities to use a variety of techniques to reach students when a shooting takes place.

    Many universities already deploy website postings, voicemail, public address systems, phone trees or even bullhorns. Some, such as University of Southern California (USC), are considering text messages and pod casts, said the paper.

    "I'm sure there will be an additional urgency ..in lieu of what happened," Capt. David Carlisle of USC's Department of Public Safety, was quoted as saying.

    The University of California in Fresno is considering a cellphone message system that students could join. After a nonfatal shooting on campus last summer, the college notified students of the violence via e-mail, website postings and radio announcements.

    In New Jersey, Montclair State University last year took an extraordinary step: It gave students cellphones that can receive campus-alert text messages and can contact campus police at the push of a button. If a student who presses the button cannot be contacted, police can use the global positioning satellite system along with private information that pops on their screen, to find the student.

    A 1990 federal law requires colleges and universities to notify students in a timely manner about any ongoing threat.

    Students at Virginia Tech were informed of the violence via a mass e-mail two hours after the first shooting, and about 20 minutes before the second.