CodeRED IPAWS system tested through the FEMA P-TAC Center, successfully passes

Oct. 17, 2012 - PRLog -- The CodeRED system, a service of Emergency Communications Network (ECN), was recently tested through the FEMA P-TAC Center in support of the Supporting Technology Evaluation Project (STEP). In October, test engineers found the CodeRED Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS) system conforms to Common Alerting Protocol v1.2 Standard USA IPAWS Profile v1.0.

STEP provides tests of supporting technologies, like the CodeRED IPAWS system, relating to incident management and response. Test activities were designed to verify interoperability of commercial software products and provide the response community with reports to support purchasing decisions. The CodeRED IPAWS system was tested at the Incident Management Test and Evaluation Laboratory in Somerset, KY and was found to interact smoothly across disciplines and jurisdictions.

The primary purpose of IPAWS is to deliver Presidential Alerts, Imminent Threat Alerts and AMBER Alerts. As IPAWS does not deliver alerts to telephones, send text messages or emails, or provide statistical information on who was contacted, the CodeRED system ensures authorized public officials the ability to send geographically targeted, community alerts across various platforms with real-time statistics on message delivery.

In early 2011, ECN worked closely with the Systems Architect on IPAWS and provided the first interface that could successfully post messages to IPAWS that same year. The CodeRED IPAWS system was demonstrated by FEMA officials at the International Association of Emergency Managers in Las Vegas, Nev. in 2011. ECN’s voluntary test of its CodeRED IPAWS system is another example of the company’s commitment to continuously improve the CodeRED IPAWS interface and maintain support of the FEMA IPAWS program.

About P-TAC Center
The Preparedness-Technology, Analysis and Coordination (P-TAC) Center is operated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) National Preparedness Directorate (NPD), P-TAC Office. The Center is located in Somerset, KY, and expands upon the mission of the former National Incident Management System (NIMS) Support Center. The Center includes an Emergency Operations Center (EOC) based environment, complete with supporting technologies, and a fully accredited laboratory for technology evaluations. The P-TAC mission space for both the FEMA program office and the Center is to be an enabler of preparedness and technology activities across the FEMA enterprise. For more information, visit https://ptaccenter.org.

About Emergency Communications Network
Headquartered in Ormond Beach, Fla., Emergency Communications Network, LLC (ECN) has pioneered high-speed emergency notification services capable of reaching millions of citizens in minutes. ECN’s sophisticated network supports a Web-based product suite featuring five major services: CodeRED® which enables local government officials to communicate time-sensitive, personalized messages via voice, email and text messaging; CodeRED Weather Warning™ which provides automated alerts to citizens in the path of severe weather just moments after a warning has been issued by the National Weather Service; CityWatch™, a premise and Web-based, full featured outbound and inbound communication notification system;  My Daily Call™ for scheduling calls to check on at-risk individuals, including the elderly, infirm and latchkey kids; and CodeED® for use by school systems to improve communications with their communities. For more information, visit http://www.ecnetwork.com.