Press Release

OASIS Demonstrates Interoperability of Standards at International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM) Conference

Desktop Alert, Warning Systems Inc (WSI), U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and Others Demonstrate Interoperability of CAP and other EDXL Standards

San Antonio, TX, USA; 1 November 2010 – This week, members of the OASIS open standards consortium demonstrated their ability to transmit information using the Emergency Data Exchange Language (EDXL) suite of standards including the Common Alerting Protocol (CAP). CAP was recently adopted by the DHS Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) as the new digital message format for the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS). The interoperability demonstration between OASIS and IPAWS was featured at the International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM) conference in San Antonio. In the OASIS booth, vendors and government agencies exchanged emergency management information with one another as part of a simulation involving a chemical leak and subsequent hurricane. Some CAP messages were also exchanged with the adjacent FEMA IPAWS booth,.where they were broadcast via an expanded Emergency Alert System (EAS) to a variety of broadcasting mediums, including radio, television, mobile phones, and personal computers. The OASIS demo showed how authorities, responders, broadcasters, and other services providers can use EDXL to enact a concerted, coordinated emergency response. OASIS standards were employed to inform and coordinate response involving a Hazmat team, police, public works officials, firefighters, paramedics, and the Red Cross. Participants in the OASIS demo included Desktop Alert and Warning Systems, Inc. (WSI), as well as the DHS, FEMA, NOAA, Collaborative Fusion Inc, Safe Environment Engineering, and Solace Systems. “The IPAWS Program Office is pleased to take part in interoperability demonstrations at IAEM and is looking forward to increased participation from the vendor community to advance public alert and warning,” said Antwane V. Johnson, IPAWS Division Director. “The OASIS Interop at IAEM is an excellent opportunity for emergency management practitioners to see first-hand how WSI’s warning and notification products perform in a real-world emergency situation. Our AdaptAlertTM system will interface with products from other companies in the Interop’s ammonia leak and weather scenarios to receive CAP 1.2 IPAWS Profile messages to activate broadcaster EAS equipment. This complements our AdaptAlert Radio Frequency systems that can activate sirens, tone pagers and tone alert receivers,” said Patrick J. Gannon, President and COO, WSI. Additional information: OASIS Emergency Management Technical Committee OASIS Emergency Adoption Committee About OASIS: OASIS (Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards) drives the development, convergence, and adoption of open standards for the global information society. A not-for-profit consortium, OASIS advances standards for emergency management, security, content management, e-commerce, and other areas of need identified by its members. OASIS open standards offer the potential to lower cost, stimulate innovation, grow global markets, and protect the right of free choice of technology. The consortium has more than 5,000 participants representing over 600 organizations and individual members in 100 countries. http://www.oasis-open.org Press contact: Carol Geyer Senior Director of Communications and Development OASIS carol.geyer@oasis-open.org +1.781.425.5073 (office) +1.941.284.0403 (mobile)