BURLINGAME, CA--(Marketwire - June 11, 2007) - AtHoc, Inc. today announced the availability
of the AtHoc EAS Activation Module, an add-on capability for its flagship
alerting product -- AtHoc IWSAlerts™. The new module lets federal, state
and local emergency management officials trigger the broadcast Emergency
Alert System (EAS) using IWSAlerts' Web-based alert management system,
sending EAS messages over the Internet to broadcasters using the Common
Alerting Protocol (CAP). This capability adds yet another critical alerting
channel to AtHoc's network-centric emergency notification system.
On May 31, 2007, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced it
had adopted an order requiring all EAS participants to support CAP in order
to facilitate the "efficient and rapid transmission of EAS alerts to the
American public in a variety of formats (including text, audio and video)
and via different means (broadcast, cable, satellite, and other networks)."
The AtHoc IWSAlerts EAS Activation Module includes components that enable
CAP-compliance per the FCC order for both the emergency management agencies
and the EAS participating broadcasters. As such, emergency management
organizations using AtHoc IWSAlerts will be able to trigger EAS systems by
transmitting a CAP message that would be received by the broadcaster's
CAP-enabled EAS equipment. AtHoc has already successfully deployed the
AtHoc EAS Activation Module, integrating Hawaii State Civil Defense with
the EAS through CAP.
IWSAlerts provides organizations with the ability to trigger alerts to a
wide variety of communication channels, all based on IP-network
communications, including: desktops, mobile phone text messaging and SMS,
telephony, sirens, public address (PA) systems and paging systems. When an
emergency response official with EAS activation authority uses IWSAlerts
with the optional EAS Activation Module, they can also send the alert
directly through the EAS over the Internet to broadcasters at the same time
the alerts are distributed through other communication channels. IWSAlerts'
central alert management provides operators with a single place to manage
all emergency scenarios, recipient information, operators' permission,
activation, and tracking and auditing of alerts for all integrated
communication channels.
"By being able to launch an alert to the Emergency Alert System from any
networked workstation, including from a remote location, emergency
management organizations shorten response times, improve messaging
consistency and speed information flow during a time when minutes and even
seconds are critical," commented Guy Miasnik, president and CEO of AtHoc.
"Emergency management agencies and first responder officials can now use a
single, Web-enabled system for all their notification needs."
IWSAlerts also significantly reduces the cost of communication between the
activation stations and the broadcasters by using the Internet versus the
traditional approach of using dedicated satellite/microwave communication
channels. Now emergency management organizations can more easily afford to
reach a larger number of broadcasters, which in turn reaches a larger
proportion of the public at large.
AtHoc's EAS Activation Module provides the following capabilities:
-- Web-based activation of EAS from any network-connected workstation
within the Emergency Operations Center or from a remote location
-- Authenticated and secure Web-based access to multiple operators. The
system includes permission management that defines which specific system
operators have EAS activation rights
-- Preprogrammed selection of EAS scenarios and audio messages that can
be distributed as-is or quickly tailored
-- Integrated text-to-speech capability which converts text messages to
broadcast audio
-- Ability to target broadcasters by geographical regions
-- Audit trail of all activations with details including operator, time
stamp, scenario activated and more
-- Delivery of EAS messages over the IP network, including the public
Internet, to the EAS ENDEC (Encoder-Decoder) interface
-- Delivery of alerts to broadcasters, online and via print media using
additional, non-EAS channels including multi-media desktop alerting that
can provide audio, video and more in-depth text information to complement
short EAS messages
EAS integration is achieved through the Common Alerting Protocol (CAP).
IWSAlerts generates a CAP-compliant alert, and this message is then
processed by CAP-compliant EAS devices that convert the CAP messages to
signals that can feed into the EAS system via their standard interface --
the ENDEC. With this approach, EAS messages can be communicated over IP
networks to any ENDEC -- whether located at the headquarters of the
emergency management agency or directly to broadcasters over the public
Internet. This achieves a high level of redundancy and more reliable
broadcast delivery of each activated EAS message.
The Emergency Alert System is a national system that was put into place in
1994 to replace the Emergency Broadcast System. It is jointly administered
by the FCC, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the National
Weather Service. State and local emergency management officials develop,
implement and maintain the EAS infrastructure on a local level. The EAS
allows radio (both public and subscription) and television (cable, wireless
and digital) broadcast stations to send emergency information to the public
quickly.
About AtHoc
AtHoc 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, 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, Northrop Grumman, Siemens, Avaya, Unisys and others to bring
these notification solutions to the public and commercial markets.
For more information on AtHoc, please visit
http://www.athoc.com.
Contact Information: Contact:
Ivy Eckerman
Spire Communications
(540) 373-2963