The Federal Emergency Management Agency said two emergency alert functions are being discontinued to make way for newer ones as the agency upgrades to the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System. IPAWS-OPEN allows “interoperable sharing of emergency alerts and incident-related data between systems that comply with non-proprietary information standards,” replacing the DM-OPEN system, FEMA said in an email reminder Wednesday. DM-OPEN will be retired June 30, as will the Disaster Management Interoperability Services toolset, FEMA said. “To remain functional, all third party software currently connecting to the legacy DM-OPEN application must be migrated to IPAWS-OPEN 2.0 by June 30.” Software developers that have agreements with FEMA on IPAWS-OPEN tests are at http://xrl.us/bkidtz.
The FCC and the Federal Emergency Management Agency said Tuesday they're working with major carriers on an early version of a system that will send emergency alerts to wireless devices. The Personal Localized Alerting Network (PLAN) will premier in New York and Washington by the end of the year, with deployment to follow elsewhere in mid-2012.
Monroe Electronics said it became the first company to have made a showing that its Common Alerting Protocol and emergency alert systems (EAS) encoder/decoder work with the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s integrated public alert and warning system. The company sells EAS equipment to cable operators and broadcasters, letting them encode and decode such warnings. Two of the company’s EAS products are listed on a Federal Emergency Management Agency website.
U.S. broadcasters need federal funds to help them update the emergency alert system, Tennessee Association of Broadcasters President White Adamson told the FCC as part of a panel discussion Tuesday on earthquake and disaster preparedness. The Federal Emergency Management Agency is working on the “next generation” of EAS technology, but the equipment is going to be expensive and broadcasters are already hard-pressed, Adamson said. He also urged the commission to require cellphone makers to add FM receivers on handsets.
Sage Alerting Systems’ Digital ENDEC Model 3644 emergency alert system completed FEMA’s Integrated Public Alert and Warning System Conformity Assessment, Sage said.
The FCC is preparing a notice of inquiry asking how to integrate broadband alerts into next-generation 911, Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau Deputy Chief Jennifer Manner said Wednesday. The inquiry will be broadly worded -- focusing on such questions as what should be covered and how to coordinate with other agencies such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency -- and will come out in the late spring or early summer, Manner said. She spoke on a panel about the National Broadband Plan’s first anniversary.
The FCC’s Communications Security, Reliability, and Interoperability Council (CSRIC) wrapped up its work Monday, approving a report recommending a blue ribbon panel to consider how to pay for upgrading 911. CSRIC also approved a report making 397 recommendations for cybersecurity best practices.
Notice of an FCC order requiring nationwide testing of the emergency alert system and mandating that EAS participants provide the regulator with data on such tests was published in Tuesday’s Federal Register. No additional details on the test were revealed.
Travelers information stations (TIS) broadcasting limited information to drivers should get the FCC permission they seek for a “narrow expansion” of rules so they can provide more types of emergency information, the NAB said in replies in docket 09-19. Other commenters in the docket also supported expanding TIS, some further than what NAB suggested. Highway Information Systems and the American Associations of State Highway and Transportation Officials had asked the Public Safety Bureau to amend TIS rules, which the bureau sought comment on.
The New Jersey Broadcasters Association supported creating a congressional caucus on emergency alert systems. In its weekly newsletter, the association said Friday the caucus would “bring emergency messaging and security conscious law makers together to introduce and pass legislation that fortifies our nation’s EAS; immediately activate and/or put FM chips in all cell phones and handheld devices; increase the number of PEP stations for true nationwide coverage, and generally support and strengthen our emergency communications broadcast capabilities and network around the United States.” Primary entry point stations help disseminate EAS messages.