The time is now for emergency management

Volunteer firefighter Peter Howardjoins in the teamwork easily eachtime he responds to emergenciesin Boxford, Mass. But in his role as vicepresident of wireless engineering atGeneral Dynamics Wireless Services,Howard has found that emergency services'long-standing practices sometimes area barrier to the adoption of new productsand ideas.Traditional vendors still wield greatinfluence, and work cultures are slow tochange, Howard said. "It is not the easiestmarket," he added.Nonetheless, state and local emergencymanagement and response technology is apromising and dynamic marketplace thathas been reinvigorated in recent years byan influx of new technologies and billionsof dollars in federal Homeland SecurityDepartment funding.This year, DHS distributed $1.8 billionto state, local and tribal agencies for emergencypreparedness equipment, trainingand planning. Similar amounts haveflowed each year since 2003, shortlyafter the department was created after the2001 terrorist attacks. Another$291 million this year is going to emergencymanagement agencies."Federal grants have provided accelerationin this market," said Bruce Walker,vice president of strategic planning at Northrop Grumman Corp.'s InformationTechnology division.The inflow of money has helped strengthenthe focus on emergency management andresponse needs. With more dollars availableand new products being developed, traditionalvendors have been joined by a plethoraof new companies, with systems integratorstaking on the largest projects.The 2001 terrorist attacks, followed fouryears later by Hurricane Katrina, struck anunprecedented one-two punch at traditionalways of preparing for and responding tomajor disasters and forced a rewriting ofthe rules regarding which technologies arecritical.One of the biggest changes is the expectationthat multiple jurisdictions will beinvolved in a coordinated response to amajor disaster. Many cities have been layingthe groundwork for this collaboration withtheir suburban partners, although mosthave not yet been put to the test.People now also anticipate better communication,sharing of information andtighter command structures among agencieswithin a single jurisdiction, and inmany communities, the availability and useof data play a more important role inresponse more than in the past."We have seen a lot of new productsdeveloped quickly," said Todd Eckman, chieftechnology officer at Lockheed MartinCorp.'s Advanced Technology and ServicesSolutions in Richland, Wash. "It is a veryfast-paced area."Recent years have brought major technicaladvances, with digital radios and networksreplacing older analog systems."There has been a convergence of radio frequencyand IT," Howard said. "It is a hugechallenge to get those disciplines to worktogether."As a result, there has been an explosion inproducts and services in this market: public safety voice interoperability; wireless accessibilityof geographic, video and other data;situational awareness; common operatingpictures and resource-tracking tools foremergency operations centers; and publicwarning systems and networks, amongother trends.With more than 50,000 local fire, policeand emergency management agencies in theUnited States, the market is fragmented anddifficult to define. Products must be tailoredto the unique needs of each community'sdemographic and geographic profile ? ahurricane zone needs different preparationsfrom a wildfire hazard area.Although fire, police and emergency managementagencies are slowly moving towarda digitized future, there have been some culturalobstacles to overcome."First responders tend to be cautious," saidPeter Erickson, principal of TechnologyFrontiers, a consulting firm in Washington."Lives are on the line, and smart decisionsneed to be made." The result is that firstresponders tend to be slow in adopting newtechnologies and creating the needed procedures,he said."The challenge for vendors is that we havethese wonderful technologies that we havedeveloped, but the policies and proceduresare not in place," Erickson said.On the other hand, sorting out vendors'offerings can be confusing and time-consuming."There are lots of new productsout there ? some good, some not so good.Some are user-friendly, and some are waytoo complicated," said Mark Ghilarducci, vicepresident of the western region office ofJames Lee Witt Associates, an emergencymanagement consulting firm."There is no silver bullet out there,"Ghilarducci said. "But at the baseline, wehave had numerous enhancements."Fire and police departments historicallyhave not been regarded as high-tech centers.Neither have emergency management agenciesand emergency operations centers."After Hurricane Katrina, the requests forhelp were coming over the fax machine," hesaid.After the 2001 terrorist attacks, firstresponder capabilities became national news. Congress and White House officialscalled for greater interoperability andinformation sharing. The money spigotwas turned on.A chief focus has been to make first respondercommunications more robust and moreinteroperable. A portion of the DHS grantmoney is available to radio systems, andearlier this year, the National Telecommunicationsand InformationAdministration (NTIA) distributed a special$1 billion fund for emergency radio interoperabilityto state and local agencies. Themoney has had some impact."I am seeing the NTIA money going toreinforce statewide interoperability plans,"Erickson said. "Mostly, it is in the infancystages. People are being very careful aboutcreating new architectures."New digitized products are replacing analogsystems, with solutions that often rely onand combine voice over IP; wireless broadband,software-defined radios; interoperablehandsets; radio network patchworkingdevices; ad hoc mesh networks; commercialcell phones; and satellite phones.By now, most large cities and severalstates have upgraded their public safetyvoice communications, while smaller citiesare following suit with less expensive solutionssuch as patchworking boxes to connectdisparate radio systems. A slew of newhandsets and software-based radios are providingmore options.The industry-developed P-25 suite oftechnical standards has been helpful butslow to develop. Meanwhile, the FederalCommunications Commission attempted tocreate a nationwide wireless broadband networkfor first responders through a D Blockradio spectrum auction in January, butthere were no bidders. FCC is consideringwhether to hold a second auction."Clearly, there is a strong appetite forwireless communications," said JohnKneuer, senior vice president of strategicplanning at Rivada Networks, a provider ofmobile voice and data networks. Its clientsinclude the Northern Command andLouisiana Army National Guard.Many larger cities want customizedwireless broadband solutions rather than aone-size-fits-all solution nationwide, hesaid."The D Block approach doesn't workwell for urban canyons," Walker said.But for many smaller communities,secure mobile wireless broadband is highlydesirable."Developing a low-cost, high-bandwidthcommunications device is the greatestunmet need," Erickson said.