Interoperable Communications Core Services Initiative Announced

December 7, 2007 -- COMCARE Emergency Response Alliance, the Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc. (OGC), the National Emergency Number Association (NENA) and the National Association of State Fire Marshals (NASFM) jointly announced they will conduct a Core Services Initiative to significantly improve interoperable, inter-organizational communications and information sharing for emergency preparedness, response and recovery. The initiative will leverage requirements and technical designs developed by COMCARE, OGC processes and standards-based technologies, and the skills, expertise and best practices of NENA and NASFM to advance this effort.

In emergency situations, agencies need to share critical information, which requires that they know what organizations need specific information, or how to register to receive it, and where (computer, radio frequency or other) to send or retrieve information. COMCARE has designed two Core services to meet this need; an Emergency Provider Access Directory agency locator service and identity management/access control service. To move from design to deployment, COMCARE, NENA, and NASFM are seeking one or more technology partners to supply the "alpha" versions of these two Core Services. An Invitation to Qualify has been released.

The Initiative will subsequently leverage the developed Core Services along with OGC's open standards to demonstrate the ability of authorized agencies to send warnings and alerts to the appropriate public, to send and receive emergency messages (data) to and from other authorized organizations, and to more easily link radio, cellular and land-line voice systems together.