The District of Columbia and suburban governments in Maryland and Virginia have deployed the Roam Secure Alert Network for text-based notifications, created by Roam Secure Inc., the Arlington, Va.-based company said in a press release.
Each participating jurisdiction has its own redundant system that supports real-time, two-way information sharing among police, fire, emergency management, health, schools and specialty units such as military reserves and urban search-and-rescue teams.
The systems also communicate with one another, and citizens can sign up to receive text messages of emergency alerts, said Laura Sankowich, a Roam Secure spokeswoman.
The system has separate channels for emergency management, emergency notification, continuity-of-operations communications and internal operations, Sankowich said.
“The [National Capital Region] jurisdictions have adopted a common interoperable platform for text-based alerting,” Ned Ingraham, project leader and senior IT manager for the DC Emergency Management Agency, said.
“They can use their stand-alone RSAN system to alert their first responders and key personnel, and they can share information with neighboring jurisdictions without maintaining separate databases, contact information, or deploying additional devices and systems,” Ingraham said.
Autor: Alice Lipowicz
Quelle: Government Computer News, 10.10.2005
