RF Design Magazine
RSS    Save to Del.icio.us  Digg This


Emergency communications software standards are proven interoperable
Dec 13, 2005 1:55 PM  By Steve Grossman, Editor

Twenty-two different technology companies participated in a demonstration that confirmed that emergency-communications standardized data messages can be exchanged by different emergency agency software tools. This occurred during the annual International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM) conference held in Phoenix in mid-November. Emergency data messages were exchanged based on three scenarios: a pandemic flu, a category 3 hurricane, and a terrorist explosion. Using actual and draft standards, the various technology companies within the pavilion, in other locations on the exhibit floor, and around the country, successfully exchanged alerts, resource requests, and hospital status information during the demonstrations.

As Judith Woodhall, managing director of COMCARE explained: "There are a variety of standards in various phases of development such as the Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) that was designed for public alerting and warning to supplement the warnings that are released from the National Weather Service, for instance. This standard—as is the case with other standards—are defined first by a group of practitioners, and then the standard is fleshed out by a number of technology vendors who are part of the interoperability consortium."

These standards are then turned over to the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS), a global non-profit organization that manages the releases of standards for a variety of disciplines.

Participating in the demonstration was the IAEM, a non-profit organization representing more than 3000 emergency management and homeland security professionals; the Emergency Interoperability Consortium (EIC) that comprises more than 60 private entities, public agencies and non-profit organizations, promoting the development and adoption of standards for using Web services; and COMCARE, a national non-profit alliance dedicated to advancing emergency response.


RSS    Save to Del.icio.us  Digg This

June Defense
 
Back to Top