Hawaii State Civil Defense Selects AtHoc IWSAlerts to Create One of the Most Comprehensive State-wide Emergency Alerting Systems for First Responders, Citizens and Special Needs Community |
Hawaii Deploys a Network-centric Alerting Offering that Makes it Possible to Achieve Mass Alerting, Interoperate with Other Agencies and Monitor Threats from Multiple SourcesBurlingame, CA (May 15, 2007) – AtHoc, Inc. today announced the Hawaii State Civil Defense (HISCD) has licensed AtHoc IWSAlerts™ software to build a comprehensive, network-centric emergency notification system (ENS) to support emergency response state wide. HISCD is actively leveraging IP-based, network-centric technology to create a state-of-the-art, multi-channel alerting system for the state’s emergency preparedness community. The system has already been installed in the HISCD headquarters at the Birkhimer Emergency Operating Center in Diamond Head Crater, Oahu, and is intended to provide support to HISCD personnel, to the emergency preparedness community and to the Hawaii special needs community on a pilot basis. Hawaii State Civil Defense, Hawaii’s emergency management agency, is responsible for preventing, protecting and assisting its islands and citizens during emergencies and disasters. The AtHoc system allows HISCD to use its existing network to reach personnel within HISCD and partner organizations through multiple redundant channels of communications - including SMS text-messaging to mobile phones, desktop alerts over IP-networks, telephony, TTY/TDD devices and pagers. The system can be triggered either by HISCD emergency managers or automatically by monitoring events communicated from external agencies (i.e. National Weather Service). IWSAlerts also enable HISCD to trigger alerts to the public over the broadcast Emergency Alert System (EAS) using the same Web-enabled integrated system, which improves response time and bolsters public safety. "We began talking to Hawaii State Civil Defense shortly after we began working with U.S. military installations in the region. It was quickly apparent that all of the defense-related agencies and programs on the island would benefit from interoperability, and AtHoc was already working with the Pacific Command, Pacific Air Forces and the U.S. Navy," commented Guy Miasnik, president and CEO of AtHoc. "Hawaii is now promoting alerting interoperability state wide, which is a critical step in creating a finely-tuned emergency response capability. It’s exciting to be working with HISCD and numerous other organizations across the state to help build this very important emergency notification infrastructure." HISCD decided to create a far-reaching alerting capability that contacts various communities, including:
The HISCD emergency notification system, when fully integrated, incorporates the following key capabilities using AtHoc IWSAlerts.
AtHoc IWSAlerts is a Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) product currently in use by the US Military and other major commercial and government organizations. About AtHoc, Inc.AtHoc, Inc. is a recognized leader in providing enterprise-class, network-centric emergency notification systems used for force and personnel protection, facility mass notification, public safety and critical enterprise communications. Millions of end users worldwide, in organizations such as the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Army, U.S. Navy, the Air University, Hawaii State Civil Defense, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Boeing, PricewaterhouseCoopers and eBay rely on AtHoc's alert delivery and management systems for their critical communication and alerting needs. AtHoc has partnered with market leaders including Microsoft, Siemens, Avaya, Unisys, Northrop Grumman, and others to bring these notification solutions to the public and commercial markets. For more information on AtHoc, please visit http://www.athoc.com. |