By Ben Ames
BOSTON — State officials in Massachusetts are developing new technologies to boost homeland security. Their biggest challenge is educating the population in time to prevent or react to a terrorist threat, a panel of politicians said in a homeland security forum March 23.
They called for a "reverse 911" system to broadcast emergency data to citizens' cell phones, and another system allowing people to dial "511" for important information. State officials said they will be ready to launch both systems within a year.
Each method has drawbacks, says Kem Clawson, director of advanced technology solutions for EMC Corp. in Hopkinton, Mass. Data-pushing can easily overwhelm users with a "fire hose" of data. And data-pulling will often arrive too late, since people will not request information until a disaster has already occurred.
To build these systems, many organizations use technologies first developed for the Internet, such as e-commerce security, automated searches, crawl-bots, and data indexing, Clawson says.
"The place we've done the least is to inform and train citizens in homeland security, such as keeping an eye out for suspicious packages in train stations," Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney said. He was referring to the March 11 terrorist attacks in Madrid, Spain, that killed 190 train commuters.
Officials offer emergency information online at sites such as the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's www.ready.gov, or the city's www.cityofboston.gov/emergencyguide, said Sue Mencer, director of the DHS Office for Domestic Preparedness.
State transit officials are preparing a similar system to enable drivers to dial "511" for real-time traffic notices or evacuation instructions, said John Cogliano, Massachusetts state highway commissioner.
First responders in Pittsburgh, Pa., are sharing emergency data with Prodigent for Emergency Management, an automated data delivery system built by Evoxis Inc., also of Pittsburgh.
"Evoxis' technology was developed post-9/11 specifically for emergency management operations to meet the complex communications requirements for large-scale emergencies," says company Chief Executive Officer Mohan Ramani. "In emergencies it's vital that first responders have detailed information that changes as the situation develops."
Prodigent computers sort vast amounts of security information into small categories and send different data to police officers than to firemen or paramedics. The network went live in March and includes 700 fire stations and 300 police stations in southwest Pennsylvania.
