OASIS Emergency Interoperability Summit Explores Advances in Next Generation Alert, Warning, Resource Management, and Hospital Coordination

AtHoc, Desktop Alert, Google, State of Virginia, U.S. Federal Emergency
Management Agency (FEMA), U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
(NOAA), Warning Systems Inc (WSI), and Others Demonstrate Interoperability of
CAP and EDXL Standards

BOSTON--(Business Wire)--
The public and private sectors will join to demonstrate the benefits of open
standards for facilitating emergency response at the OASIS Emergency
Interoperability (EI) Summit, 30 September - 1 October. Held as part of the
National Information Exchange Model (NIEM) Training Event in Baltimore,
Maryland, the OASIS EI Summit aims to bring closer coordination among first
responders, policy makers, legislators, government agencies, and vendors.

"The U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Office for Interoperability and
Compatibility (OIC) is pleased to be supporting the OASIS Emergency Management
Interoperability Summit in conjunction with the NIEM National Training Event,"
said Denis Gusty, OIC Program Manager. "For the first time, we will be able to
showcase the entire suite of EDXL standards in alignment with the NIEM
Information Exchange Package Documentation (IEPD) for the EDXL Distribution
Element. We will be truly demonstrating the value and complementary capabilities
of the two programs."

The OASIS EI Summit will feature sessions on the Common Alerting Protocol (CAP)
and the Emergency Digital Exchange Language (EDXL). EDXL serves as the
'umbrella' for a number of emergency data message types including resource
queries and requests, situation status and forecasts, financial and personnel
data, message routing instructions, etc. Summit presentations will detail the
family of EDXL specifications including: Distribution Element (EDXL-DE),
Resource Messaging (EDXL-RM), and Hospital Availability Exchange (EDXL-HAVE). A
preview of the Situation Reporting (EDXL-SitRep) specification currently under
development will also be featured.

Central to the EI Summit will be an interoperability demonstration showing the
use of CAP and EDXL in a train accident scenario involving a chemical leak
compounded by the threat of tornadoes. Working with scenario details provided by
NOAA and the State of Virginia, the Interop will demonstrate how standards can
be used for HazMat dispatch, Emergency Alert System (EAS) notices,
transportation of injured firefighters to appropriately equipped hospitals, and
weather radio alerts. Participants in the demo include AtHoc, Desktop Alert,
Google, FEMA/Department of Homeland Security, and Warning Systems, Inc. (WSI),
as well as CellCast Technologies, Evolution Technologies, MyStateUSA, Safe
Environment Engineering, Solace Systems, TeleCommunication Systems, and others.

EI Summit Interop Sponsors

AtHoc

"The OASIS EI Summit will allow us to demonstrate how network-centric emergency
mass notification ensures that first responders, homeland security agencies and
government public safety organizations receive accurate and timely access to
critical information in order to respond effectively during times of emergency,"
said Aviv Siegel, Chief Technology Officer for AtHoc. "Interoperability is key
for secure, quick and effective dissemination of emergency alerts."

Desktop Alert

"Having just been awarded the nationwide mass notification contract by the
United States National Guard, our team will be on hand to demonstrate CAP
implementations by Desktop Alert now being integrated at the state level
nationwide. We will also be demonstrating innovative uses of CAP Over XMPP,"
said Howard Ryan, CEO and Founder of Desktop Alert Inc.

Google

"Google's mission is to organize the world's information and make it universally
accessible and useful. In the world of crisis preparedness and response, we work
with fellow technology companies, academia, and government organizations to
accomplish this mission," said the Google Crisis Response Team.

Warning Systems

"The OASIS EI Summit 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 AdaptAlert and OnAlert systems
will interface with products from other companies in the Interop`s chemical
spill-tornado scenario to receive CAP v1.2 IPAWS Profile messages to activate
broadcaster EAS equipment and CAP v1.1 messages to activate sirens and tone
alert receivers," said Patrick J. Gannon, President and COO, WSI, who will be
moderating the Summit`s Executive Briefing Panel.

Complimentary press passes for the EI Summit are available; contact
events@oasis-open.org for details.

Additional information:

OASIS EI Summit 2009

http://events.oasis-open.org/home/ei-summit/2009

About OASIS:

OASIS is a not-for-profit, international consortium that drives the development,
convergence and adoption of open standards for the global information society.
OASIS promotes industry consensus and produces worldwide standards for emergency
management, security, Web services, XML conformance, business transactions,
electronic publishing, and other applications. OASIS open standards offer the
potential to lower cost, stimulate innovation, grow global markets, and protect
the right of free choice of technology. OASIS members broadly represent the
marketplace of public and private sector technology leaders, users and
influencers. The consortium has more than 5,000 participants representing over
600 organizations and individual members in 100 countries.
http://www.oasis-open.org/

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

Copyright Business Wire 2009