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New York businesses are doing OK regarding business continuity planning
Since the large blackout that shut down New York businesses three years ago, companies have jumped on board the business continuity train and are implementing continuity plans; AT&T surveyed these companies and found that most are taking the issue seriously
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Loral Skynet to use net optimization tool from Allot
Loral Skynet, a global communications provider, will begin using a Minnesota-based company’s optimization tool, allowing it to better track the behavior of subscribers and solve contingency problems when they arise
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U.S. BioDefense gains total control of EDS
U.S. BioDefense expands its services by gaining 100 percent control of EDS; the acquisition works well for EDS as well as the emergency preparedness and disaster recovery industry is expected to spend billions in 2007
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California prepares all-in-one business recovery and continuity plan
Hurricane Katrina was a great example of the need for states to have their own continuity plans; California has learned the lesson from the Gulf Coast region and is preparing to secure its own critical infrastructure in an all-in-one plan
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Memex offers information gathering solution to JRIC
Intelligence is important, and this is why Memex is providing an interoperable intelligence management system to the JRIC, a multi-agency terrorism and crime fighting unit
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VivoMetrics LifeShirt offers answers about firefighters; helps in setting standards
Some two decades ago, as women fighting for equal rights wanted to become firefighters, there were questions raised (mostly by men) about women’s physical ability to cope with the demands of the profession; a California company now offers a way scientifically and accurately to answer many questions about firefighters’ ability to cope with the stress and rigor of the job – and also help in setting training and safety standards for the profession
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Rotor-less helicopter holds promise for rescue missions
Israeli company designed a rotor-less helicopter which should be of great interest to first responders: Because the helicopter does not have a rotor, it can attach itself to a building’s window and have the people inside climb through the window directly into the hovering helicopter outside
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ImageWare Systems launches IWS Disaster Management solution suite
One of FEMA’s Katrina-related failures has to do with the massive fraud — worth more than $1 billion — perpetrated by thousands of people against the agency’s Katrina relief fund; ImageWare offers a solution to reduce such fraud in the wake of future disasters
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UC Irvine developing wireless emergency response backpack
University of California Irvine developing response system which may revolutionize the communication capabilities and productivity of first responders in the field
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DHS distributes ICRI interoperable communication system to 43 communities
DHS is making a point of helping small and resource-poor communicates equip their emergency and first-response forces with interoperable communication gear; in the latest round, DHS has distributed interoperable equipment from Virginia-based C-AT to 43 communities
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TekMethods does one thing right – ITAM
A business continuity company says: “We Do One Thing Right” (they mean IT Asset Management, or ITAM)
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AcXess is now trading publicly
Florida company providing small to mid-size businesses with affordable first class business continuity solutions is now being traded publicly
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Australia’s government assists businesses in pandemic planning in new business continuity guide
Their first guide in May was to prepare medically for the bird flu; now the government has released a preparations guide specifically for the business sector in response to the possibility of an avian flu pandemic
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Europeans to develop pan-European risk management solution
A major oil spill off the shore of Spain four years ago proved that lack of coordination and cooperation among European nations in meeting disasters only worsened the disaster; 16 European companies are trying to do something about it
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U.S. updates national emergency broadcast system
In 1951 President Harry Truman launched a national emergency radio broadcasting system aiming to alert Americans in the event of a Soviet nuclear attack on the U.S.; that system, thankfully, was never used, but President Bush has now ordered its upgrading so it could be used to broadcast warnings about national emergencies to Americans’ PDAs, cellular phones, Web sites, e-mail boxes, TV, and radio
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The long view
Revising the Cost of Climate Change
Climate scientists have warned of calamitous consequences if global temperatures continue their rise. But macroeconomists have largely told a less alarming story, predicting modest reductions in productivity and spending as the world warms. Until now. New study of economic toll yields projections ‘six times larger than previous estimates’.
Efforts to Build Wildfire Resilience Are Heating Up
Stanford’s campus has become a living lab for testing innovative fire management techniques, from AI-powered environmental sensors to a firebreak-creating “BurnBot.”
Autonomous Disaster Response Technology Successfully Applied to Fire Extinguishing System of a 3,200-ton Vessel
An innovative technology for autonomously responding, without crew intervention, to ruptures to the pipes within the fire extinguishing system of vessels has been successfully verified for the first time in Korea.
Reducing Vulnerability to Sea-Level Rise in Virginia
As the climate changes and sea levels rise, there is concern that sinking coastlines could exacerbate risks to infrastructure, as well as human and environmental health in coastal communities. The Virginia Coastal Plain is one of the fastest-sinking regions on the East Coast.