Remote Hosting of Emergency

Notification Solutions Overview of Existing Opsand Future Developments

Stephen SpoonamoreDir. Govt. Programsspoon@sendwordnow.com

• To reach thousands in minutes globally

• To prepare organizations for unexpected crises and preload teams and groups needed to address them in remote hosted “hot-standby” status.

• To solve painful 2-way communication problems in degraded and challenging environments

• To find and link event specific experts to Incident Command

Remote Hosting of Communications Mission

• Fully hosted, outsourced, remote, multiple redundant

• Sends messages to hundreds or thousands of people in near zero time

• Simultaneously organizes dozens of work groups

• Use any or all familiar communication devices (cell, work, home phones, email, pager, text devices)

• Works from anywhere, to anywhere

What the System must be to accomplish this:

• Founded as a direct result of 9/11

• Intended to manage massive area disasters

• Focus on High-Speed, High-Volume Remote hosting

Easily scales to suit exact requirements

• Outsourced solution No dependencies on any local existing infrastructure

Allows Incident Command to run system from anywhere

No hardware to install or software to upgrade

• No single points of failure

• Multiple components spread throughout the country

• 24/7/365 – The correct commands sit Standby-Hot

How SWN is doing thiswe

• Automates and preloads work groups and plans

• Forces planning for situations

• Simplifies logistics when crises arise

• Distributes information quickly and accurately

• Finds and Patches in Remote Experts

• Improves response times during critical events

• Helps centralize employee contact information

• Recall and re-assign teams in near zero-time

• Announces/tracks internal network disruptions

What The Service Does so far

SWN Proprietary and Confidentialc2004 SWN Communications Inc.

Current Infrastructure Map of SWN System(North America)

SWN HQ

Data Center

IVR Bank

Call Center

Ops Center

• Send to voice and text devices simultaneously• Response options from voice and email• International dialing• Send messages via web, email, toll-free number 24-7• Real-time tracking of responses• Message triggering via Blackberry, TREO or Phone• Bridge to conference call• Customized Caller ID • Assign logins and passwords to team members• Manage 2000+ voice points of contact/minute• Manage 40,000+ text points of contact/minute

Capability of the System

Many Agencies have inherent “Hug The Box” bias. Turf issues of who controls data planning also challenging Current drive to interoperability is moving toward creation of local monoculture systems, not remote hosting

Nomenclature and Incident Command for EMS and Mass Recall have variable and often contradictory procedures

Mass Evacuation needs need to run in complete reverse of EMS attack of situation

Level of Security for Data and “Need to Know” issues.

Current Challenges in Public Response Events

• Send Pre-loaded Packets to each Cell Tower, set Cell Tower to reverse call all phones it can “see” with message. • Create Local “Evacuation” Mass Call #s, SWN would manage, update and reset open evacuation messages.

• Create and set flexible “recall pools” as recalled assets found

• Manage the two way communication for deploying recalled assets

System Extensions (Proposed) for Public Alert

Stephen SpoonamoreDir. of Government and Institutional Programs

spoon@sendwordnow.com C- 646 351 2255 w – 212 645 5985 x 824

Current Clients using SWN (partial)

      

•“What took hours on 9/11 took minutes (Blackout 2003).” Bank of New York

•“I wish I had your service during the Blackout 2003.” New York Presbyterian

•"Terrific idea...wish we had this 20 years ago.” United States Postal Service

•“This tool saves time, money and lives.” Veterans Affairs Region 21

Quotes from Users on System

Technology Summary• Industry Standard

PHP front-endWin2K/IIS/MS SQL Server back-endXML interface

• Redundant / Fault Tolerant Infrastructure & ArchitectureDual Qwest locations with “Twin” systems in each location.Hot Standby ArchitectureMulti-sourced at the provider level, DR w/ secondary providers

• SecureSEC Data handling, SEC certified ArchitectureChange Management partitions: Dev -> Pre-production-> ProductionHardened OS’s /encrypted DBs

• ScalableArchitected around production units

• Real TimeCentralized management allows on the fly service and real time reporting