TCIP Expo Showcases OASIS Emergency Standards

["Carol Geyer" <carol.geyer@oasis-open.org>]

TCIP Expo Showcases OASIS Emergency Standards for Alert, Warning, Resource
Management, and Hospital Coordination
 
Desktop Alert, Warning Systems Inc (WSI), U.S. FEMA, NOAA, and Others
Demonstrate Interoperability of EDXL Standards at US Department of Homeland
Security Event 


Philadelphia, PA, USA; 1 February 2010 -  The public and private sectors
will join to conduct an interoperability standards demonstration at the
Technologies for Critical Incident Preparedness (TCIP) conference, 2-4
February in Philadelphia. The event will showcase the OASIS Emergency Data
Exchange Language (EDXL) suite of standards including the Common Alerting
Protocol (CAP), Distribution Element (DE), and Hospital Availability
Exchange (HAVE) standards. Simulating an incident defined by the U.S.
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the demo will show how authorities,
responders, broadcasters, and other services providers can use EDXL to enact
a concerted, coordinated emergency response.

The emergency simulation will involve an ammonia leak in the Philadelphia
Wachovia Spectrum refrigeration system. OASIS standards will be used to
inform and coordinate response involving a Hazmat team, police, public works
officials, firefighters, paramedics, and the Red Cross. A tornado weather
alert will compound the severity of the situation, resulting in a complex
residential evacuation. Participants in the demo include Desktop Alert and
Warning Systems, Inc. (WSI), as well as the DHS,  NOAA,  U.S. Federal
Emergency Management Administration (FEMA), CellCast Technologies,
MyStateUSA, Safe Environment Engineering, Solace Systems, TeleCommunication
Systems, and others. 

The demonstration will feature the DHS Disaster Management Open Platform for
Emergency Networks (DM-OPEN), an operational interoperability backbone that
allows disparate third-party applications, systems, networks and devices to
share information in a non-proprietary, open format. DM-OPEN was designed to
support the delivery of real-time data and situational awareness to public
emergency responders in the field, at operation centers and across all
levels of response management. 

The Geo-Targeted Altering System (GTAS) will also play a key role in the
interop. GTAS is a joint development effort between NOAA and FEMA's
Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS). GTAS allows alerts and
warnings to be targeted to geographic areas. The CAP IPAWS Profile message
format will be used to demonstrate notification to the Emergency Alert
System (EAS). 


Support for OASIS Interop

"The OASIS Interop at TCIP is an excellent opportunity for emergency
management practitioners to see first-hand how WSI's warning and
notification products perform in a real-world emergency situation. Our
AdaptAlertT and OnAlertR systems will interface with products from other
companies in the Interop's chemical leak-tornado scenario to receive CAP 1.2
IPAWS Profile messages to activate broadcaster EAS equipment and CAP 1.1
messages to activate sirens and tone alert receivers," said Patrick J.
Gannon, President and COO, WSI.




Additional information:

OASIS Emergency Management Technical Committee
http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/emergency/

OASIS Emergency Adoption Committee
http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/emergency-adopt/


Press contact:

Carol Geyer
Senior Director of Communications and Development
OASIS
carol.geyer@oasis-open.org
+1.978.667.5115 x209 (office)
+1.941.284.0403 (mobile)