FEMA to Update IPAWS-Open Developer List
The Federal Emergency Management Agency plans to update its list of Internet Protocol integrated public alert and warning system (IPAWS) developers (http://xrl.us/bnqhe6) to reflect uncertainty about whether vendors have completed successful tests of the system, a FEMA official said Wednesday on an agency webinar with developers. Currently, the list indicates which vendors have successfully posted a digitally signed IPAWS alert in the test environment FEMA’s set up for the open platform for emergency networks (OPEN) IP system. Because the list was initiated before FEMA began using unique digital certificates for Collaborative Operating Groups (COGs), FEMA can’t confirm whether any individual vendor has actually successfully tested the system, said Neil Graves, a technical requirements manager with FEMA’s IPAWS-OPEN.
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"The IPAWS program office can’t tell whether or not Brand A submitted the message or Brand X submitted the message,” Graves said. Simulated IPAWS alerts could have been sent to the test system by one vendor using someone else’s software, he said. “Shortly, the EAS list will not include this designation.” IPAWS is now distributing test alerts to radio and TV stations and multichannel video programming distributors, all of which must pass on traditional EAS alerts, and the system can be used in the future for websites to also send alerts to visitors (CD Sept 17 p6).
Emergency managers evaluating vendors should probably ask for a demonstration before they make any purchasing decisions, Graves said. “If I were an emergency management organization, I would prefer to see a demonstration for a product that they plan on purchasing,” rather than relying on FEMA’s list, he said. FEMA’s goal is to get every developer a unique identifier for the system so it can confirm such tests in the future, Graves said.
FEMA plans to publish a new developer’s guide, version 3.02, by the end of the week, Graves said. The guide includes four major changes over the previous edition, he said. They involve validating COGs’ authorized alert areas, updated alert message status items, adding a new dissemination channel for all public alerts, including EAS and non-EAS alerts, and the ability of alert originators to block certain dissemination paths, Graves said.