EIC Commends Introduction of Interoperability Legislation
26 June 2005
Background: Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.), senior Democrat on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, along with Committee Chairman Susan Collins (R-Me.), and Sens. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) and Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii), introduced legislation (S. 1274) to improve emergency communications.
The following statement should be attributed to Matt Walton, chairman of the Emergency Interoperability Consortium (EIC):
“We are pleased to support this legislation because it provides a framework for achieving interoperability for emergency communications between emergency responders and their agencies, and between emergency agencies themselves at all levels of government, and includes both voice and data. S. 1274 also recognizes the importance of achieving interoperability efficiently while preserving the value of the enormous investment the country has already made in our emergency communications infrastructure.””
“EIC strongly agrees with Sen. Collins, when she said in her statement on the bill that, ‘From computer systems to emergency radios, the technology that should allow these different levels of government to communicate with each other too often is silenced by incompatibility’.
“Interoperability must be about both on-scene radio communications, and interagency data communications. Computer networks used by emergency response agencies are most useful when everyone involved can have access to the information they need quickly during an emergency. Open public data standards such as the Common Alerting Protocol, which was sponsored by EIC, allow for transmission of crucial data through any data network using any agency’s application.
“We look forward to working with the Senators and the other members of the Committee in developing this pivotal legislation.”
The Emergency Interoperability Consortium (EIC) was launched in October 2002 to address our nation's lack of consistent technical interoperability and standards for emergency and incident management. Now comprised of over 60 private entities, public agencies, university groups, and non-profit organizations, the EIC is promoting the development and adoption of standards for using Web services, Extensible Markup Language (XML), and existing relevant standards that will enable emergency industry interoperability.
Contact:
Matt Walton
818-621-0660
Source: E-Media Wire
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