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Kiwis look to expand emergency recovery budget
Auckland region asks for a 175 percent budget increase; expenditutes may include an new emergency information management system, a review of early warning systems, and a group operations center
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Spanish firefighters use software to direct resources, develop tactics
Developed at the Universirt of Grenada, SIADEX system considers fire data along with available resources to propose three plans of attack; constant updates by emergency crews on the ground lead to immediate refinements; technology is almost ready to go
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FCC declines to consider Cyren Call's public safety band proposal
Improving communication among first responders and rescue units is a pressing topic, and one proposal, advanced by Cyren Call, calls for allocating 30 MHz in the 700 MHz band for public safety purposes; the wireless industry opposes the plan, and the FCC says it contradicts the wishes of Congress
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TrafficCast launches cellular probe traffic management system
Now deployed in Shanghai, system analyzes GPS and signaling data to report on traffic location and speed; a boon to city planners concerned about congestion, technology could make its mark in the disaster response business
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Conference Board notes disconnect between C-level and continuity efforts
The most influential executives are the least supportive, while the most supportive are the least influential; Conference Board cites metrics as a major area for improvement
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Demos study finds six ways to identify successful continuity efforts
Successful companies provide a working model of best practices; holistic, employee-centered approach is paramount; so too is recognizing and accepting a certain amount of risk; sacrificing key business concerns to security needs will always be a losing proposition
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Red Cross releases business continuity CD-ROM
Moving beyond blood drives and disaster recovery, the Red Cross tries to increase awareness of continuity requirements; besides vendor and communication redundancies, organization emphasizes first aid and office safety; CPR training a must
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Vigilon opens operation center in Chicago
The State of Illinois is actively seeking homeland security and business continuity companies; the latest to embrace the Windy City is Israeli enterprise security specialist Vigilon, which opens an operation center in Chicago
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DoD medical records system goes down temporarily
An auditing function is to blame for the 20 minute shutdown of the Clinical Data Repository; records of 8.6 million soldiers and their families at risk; DISA is working hard to create redundancy with local caches and renote data storage
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AT&T completes IT continuity project for Whitney National Bank
$2.1 million contract includes off-site data mirroring and storage, as well as multiprotocol label switching to allow bank officials to prioritize traffic among branches; effort is a model of responsible bank security
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Citrix and IBM team up on disaster gear
It is typically the case that employees disperse in the immediate aftermath of disaster — they stay with their families, or they cannot get to work, or the company’s facilities are damaged; two companies are jointly developing a product to connect such dispersed employees to each other — and to the company’s back-up data centers
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Unisys launches new business security ad campaign
Targeted at C-level executives, initiative includes a Fortune magazine cover featuring the recipient’s photograph; company hopes to sell IT security and continuity as competitive advantages, not as reactive responses to threats
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TransUnion joins CIMIP IT protection center
Company joins LexisNexis, IBM, and others at Utica College to help develop a national research agenda on identity management, information sharing and data protection
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IBM and Citrix to offer USB-based remote access service
When disaster strikes, an emergency response team inserts their keys into any available computer, automatically sending a message to employees that they are to follow suit with their own; employees then have access to remote versions of their desktop and can continue on as usual; system also allows for ongoing monitoring, scheduling, and communications
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The long view
Faster-Developing, Wetter Hurricanes to Come
Climate change sets the stage for hurricanes to rapidly intensify faster, bringing wetter storms to the U.S. Atlantic Coast and other coastlines. A warmer world heightens the risk of flooding.
It Is Double Trouble When Two Disasters Strike the Electrical Transmission Infrastructure
One natural disaster can knock out electric service to millions. A new study suggests that back-to-back disasters could cause catastrophic damage, but the research also identifies new ways to monitor and maintain power grids. The study, using AI, highlights the fragility of power grid networks.
The “Cassandra of the Subways” on Hurricane Sandy, Ten Years Later
Starting in the 1990s, geophysicist Klaus Jacob started warning publicly that New York could eventually see a catastrophic storm abetted by climate change. From 2008 to 2019, he served on the New York City Panel on Climate Change, a scientific body that informs the city’s efforts to adapt infrastructure to changing climate. Most famously, he produced eearily precise projectionof where the subways would flood.
Hydropower Delivers Electricity, Even During Lengthy Droughts
The megadrought in the Southwestern United States is the driest—and longest—in the last 1,200 years, depleting water reservoir levels to critically low levels over the past 22 years. Droughts particularly impact hydroelectric power dams as well as some thermoelectric power plants that require large amounts of water for cooling. But a new report suggests that the relationship between drought and hydroelectric power is more nuanced than it might seem. Drought-strained hydropower sustains 80 percent average power generation capacity.
Method for Decoding Asteroid Interiors Could Help Aim Asteroid-Deflecting Missions
Knowing how the density is distributed inside an asteroid could help scientists plan the most effective defense. For instance, if an asteroid were made of relatively light and uniform matter, a DART-like spacecraft could be aimed differently than if it were deflecting an asteroid with a denser, less balanced interior. Astronomers have found a way to determine an asteroid’s interior structure based on how its spin changes during a close encounter with Earth.
Why Not Use Space Mirrors for Reflecting Sunlight to Cool the Planet?
Given the potential consequences of climate change and a danger of reaching irreversible “tipping points,” there is an argument to be made that all options should be carefully considered. Sending giant mirrors into space to reflect solar radiation away from the Earth is one such option. The problem is that the many such geoengineering approaches have been so taboo that there is not enough information from researchers to definitively decide what options are still viable.