Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Interoperability

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 01 Nov 2002 14:03:17 -0500

http://homeland.cs.umaine.edu/interoperability.htm

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THE HOMELAND SECURITY LAB OF

THE UNIVERSITY OF MAINE COMPUTER SCIENCE
DEPARTMENT PRESENTS

INTEROPERABILITY HEADING DOWN THE RIGHT ROAD

NOVEMBER 6, 2002 1PM - 430PM

SODERBERG
CENTER, UM CAMPUS, ORONO

The Soderberg Center is part of Jeness Hall. The link above
takes you to a map of the campus that shows the location. For more detailed
information about visiting the UM campus and parking go to http://www.go.umaine.edu/visit.html.

(This event will be broadcast over the Grid and will also be
available via streaming video -- a link will be provided here on the day of the
event.)

The events of a year ago have placed a renewed emphasis on interoperability.
As the following except from America Still Unprepared - America Still in
Danger," a report

prepared under the auspices of the Council on Foreign Relations (released October 24,
2002) states:

"In virtually every major city and county in the United States, no interoperable
communications system exists to support police, fire departments, and county, state, regional, and federal response personnel
during a major emergency. Radio frequencies are not available to support the post-incident communication demands that will be placed on them, and most
cities have no redundant systems to use as backups. Portable radios will not work in high-rise buildings unless the buildings are equipped with repeater
systems. Most U.S. cities have separate command-and-control functions for their police and fire departments, and little to no coordination exists
between the two organizations. Furthermore, with few exceptions, first-responder commanders do not have access to secure radios, telephones,
or video-conferencing capabilities that can support communications with county, state, and federal emergency preparedness officials or National
Guard leaders."

What is driving unified command models? How can incident managers execute
multi-layered emergency response and consequence management plans? When the
quick surge in resources and manpower happens, what will hold it together and
keep it on track? In small rural towns where mutual aid is a long established
practice, what needs to happen to take this to the next level? These are just
some of the questions that need to be asked, while the answer is not
interoperability alone. However, interoperability is a vital ingredient in a
successful game plan. During this virtual symposium, top experts will explore
ways in which interoperability can be achieved, what tools might work, what
programs are in motion, and where we are heading.

1:00 PM George Markowsky, chair of the UMaine Computer Science
Department will open this session.

Moderator Peter J. Brown, is a Maine-based freelance writer who
specializes in satellite communications. He is serving on a voluntary basis as a
satellite technology and communications advisor to the multi-agency team which
is creating and implementing the homeland security strategic plan for the state
of Maine. Mr. Brown will give a quick overview of the
subject to be addressed, the speakers and their topics. He will then introduce
the first speaker.

1:10 John P. Caruso is the chief of the executive agent (EA) for
Theater Joint Tactical Networks Action Office (EA-TJTN) at the US Army
Communications-Electronics Command (CECOM) at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey. Mr.
Caruso currently chairs two DoD forums including the Theater Joint Tactical
Network Configuration Control Board (TJTN-CCB) which coordinate unified-command,
military-service, and Defense-agency programs for joint interoperability
assurance purposes. He also directs the conduct of an annual joint
networked-communications exercise of considerable size designed to experiment
with and assess various notional concepts, interfacing schemes, untried network
arrangements, new technologies, emerging systems, and operational approaches in
hybrid joint networks, simulating deployed joint communications operations while
focusing on joint networked-system interoperability.

Mr. Caruso will discuss what went on during the 2002 Joint Users
Interoperable Communications Exercise or JUICE, and what is on tap for next
year. JUICE is an annual exercise designed to resolve interoperability issues
throughout the DoD's tactical networked-communications community. The exercise
is focused on developing near-term practical solutions to interoperability
shortfalls in tactical networked communications. Exercise alignment with Joint
Forces Command (JFCOM) has broadened to include Joint Task Force Civil Support (JTF-CS)
and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) planning activities, as well
as their operational requirements. This exposure has advanced the DoD's
capability to support Homeland Security planning processes and execution
requirements.

1:30 Gene Davenport serves as telecommunications manager for the
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Mobile Emergency Response Support (MERS)
in Denton, Texas. Mr. Davenport will discuss interoperability with the federal
government during disasters, Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD), or terrorist
Incidents. He will focus on FEMA's deployment of the MERS comprehensive
telecommunications support system, and its links to the local incident command
via Civil Support Team, Crisis Management Center (FBI), Consequence Management
Center (FEMA) and Joint Forces Command - Civil Support (JTF-CS) (DOD).

1:50 John W. Loonsk, M.D. works at the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta where he is Associate Director for Informatics and
Director at the Information Resources Management Office, the CDC's central
information technology organization. He received his medical training at the
State University of New York at Buffalo after graduating from the Johns Hopkins
University. At the State University of New York at Buffalo, he implemented the
first mandatory course in the US in medical informatics for medical students. At
the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, he oversaw the development of
an electronic learning and decision support environment which included the
electronic resources of the Health Sciences library, the medical school
curriculum and the Internet. Since joining the CDC in 1999, he has become
instrumental in the planning and development of the National Electronic Disease
Surveillance System (NEDSS). In 2000, he was named CDC Associate Director of
Informatics and assumed responsibility for the CDC's Information Resources
Management Office.

Dr. Loonsk will focus on the Public Health Information Network (PHIN) which
will connect the diverse groups participating in public health using
standards-based collaboration, communications and alerting capabilities. PHIN is
a live, secure, Internet-based network for exchanging comparable critical health
information between all levels of public health (local, state and federal) and
other critical information systems (clinical care, laboratories, first
responders, etc.). Improved data analysis and visualization including automated
algorithms for event detection will aid in more timely public health
decision-making.

2:10 Ross Merlin, Telecommunications and Information Resources Manager
at the U.S. Public Health Service Office of Emergency Preparedness, will discuss
interoperability from the standpoint of his group's emergency response plans.

2:30 Brief Intermission

2:40 Robert E. Lee, Jr. has more than thirty years experience in
public safety, and he currently serves as the Public Safety Wireless Network (PSWN)
Program Manager for the Department of Justice. A Supervisory Special Agent with
the FBI, Mr. Lee has been with PSWN since June, 2001. He has served as an
instructor both at the FBI National Academy at Quantico, Virginia, and at the
International Law Enforcement Academy in Budapest, Hungary. He presently serves
on the Law Enforcement Liaison Council of the American Society of Industrial
Security (ASIS) and the Communications and Technology Committee of the
International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP).

Mr. Lee will provide an overview of the PSWN Program, the program's view of
interoperability, success stories, and current assistance projects. Lee will
outline a series of steps that government officials can take to enhance
interoperability. In existence since 1996, PSWN is a joint program of the U.S.
Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of the Treasury which promotes
interoperable communications solutions for Public Safety at all levels of
government.

3:00 Michael Skurla is the Chief of Combatant Command Integration and
Interoperability Initiatives, Combatant Command Interoperability Program Office
(CIPO), US Army Communications Electronics Command (CECOM). His duties include
developing and assisting in the execution of technical objectives that advance
the Combatant Command's Command, Control, Communications, Computers,
Intelligence, Electronic Warfare and Sensors (C4IEW&S) capabilities and to
ensure that all Service C4ISR systems provide fully integrated / interoperable
command and control capabilities to the joint forces. Previously, he was
assigned to the Army's Program Executive Office Command, Control, and
Communications Systems (PEO C3S), and he has provided system and software
engineering support on network management systems, tactical radio systems and
Special Operation Forces programs.

Michael Skurla will provide an overview on the National Emergency Support
Center that is being proposed as a foundation element in DoD's efforts to build
an integrated military strategy to support our national Homeland Security
effort. A key element of this national strategy is the ability to leverage and
make available to the civilian disaster response community the large and largely
untapped (from a technology transfer perspective) military technology baseline
together with the Department of Defense material acquisition, training and
support infrastructure to provide effective, high quality, affordable,
interoperable equipment, training, and sustainment support to civil First
Responders. One goal is to address known critical shortfalls in equipment and
technology assets, information fusion, and communication architectures at all
First Responder levels - local, multi-state, and national.

3:20 David R. Beering, is the Principal Partner of Infinite Global
Infrastructures, LLC, based in Chicago. IGI's current work focuses on the
design, integration, and deployment

of large scale high-performance virtual networks for clients including NASA,
Lockheed Martin Space Operations, Boeing Satellite Systems, the National
Institutes of Health, the US Army, and the US Navy. Mr. Beering has worked
extensively with NASA's Glenn Research Center and Johnson Space Center to
develop reference architectures, coordinate research, and conduct demonstrations
on communications networks using TCP/IP, DVB, and ATM.

Mr. Beering will discuss trends in fixed and mobile satellite systems with
regard to protocols, bandwidth efficiency and spectrum allocation. With the
rapid proliferation of federal-owned and municipal-owned mobile / portable
satellite and wireless systems, specific discussion will focus what needs to
happen in order to support the rapid evolution of satellite, and, wireless
systems and services. Mr. Beering will identify ways to provide for the maximum
level of cooperation and interoperability among users of these new systems.

3:40 Richard Wolf is executive vice president,
and, director of sales and marketing at Wolf Coach In Auburn, Massachusetts. He
has been a part of Wolf Coach since the late 1960's, working in the
manufacturing area and rising to the level of President. Wolf Coach is
well-known for its innovative work in the area of mobile platforms designed to
provide communications support to law enforcement and governmental agencies at
all levels. For example, Wolf Coach recently delivered two mobile satellite
uplink vehicles to the Connecticut State Police. Wolf Coach also built the 32
Unified Command Suite (UCS) - Communications Vans which are used by Civil
Support Teams in numerous states as part of their WMD response capabilities, and
five Enhanced Multi Radio Vehicles (EMRV's) for FEMA.

Mr. Wolf will discuss the best ways to leverage existing
technologies to provide current day solutions to the First Responder on the
ground, wherever that is, and to enable the First Responder to reach back for
support from wherever it is available. An assortment of communications pipelines
are available today to work in the immediate area, or, on a regional or on a
nationwide basis. The need for speed, the set up time involved, how robust the
path has to be, and how many pipelines are needed will all factor into the
decision making process.

4:00 Randall Berry is the Fire Chief for the Town of
Livermore, Maine (population 2000), where he has been a firefighter for
approximately 25 years. Until recently, he also served as the Town's Emergency
Management Director. He serves in the Maine House of Representatives, and he is
the House Chair of the Joint Standing Committee on Appropriations and Financial
Affairs. He is a member of the Emergency Response Team at Wausau-Mosinee Paper
Corporation where he is employed as a papermaker.

Chief Berry will discuss challenges at the local level of effective
inter-agency communications from his own perspective. He will examine
coordination with mutual aid departments and other emergency response agencies,
along with funding, geography and other challenges for a fire chief. He will
also discuss comprehensive planning efforts, and how these can be undertaken in
light of the adverse economic climate in many states. He will explore ways in
which states can invest and bring about effective improvements in
interoperability.

4:20 Closing Remarks

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---

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 01 Nov 2002 14:14:37 -0500

Anybody Else Going?