• Harris awarded DHS communications contract with a $3 billion potential value

    Harris has been awarded a 5-year, IDIQ DHS contract to support tactical communications for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and its partner agencies; the contract has a $3 billion ceiling

  • Space Data, partners test high-altitude disaster communication

    Since 2004, Space Data has logged more than 250,000 flight hours in near space altitudes between 65,000 and 90,000 feet in conducting more than 20,000 flights of its balloon-borne platforms; near space technology has become a critical communications relay capability for the U.S. military, particularly for deployed forces overseas; the FCC wants this technology to be available for first responders

  • High altitude-based emergency communication system

    Oceus Network will conduct a test of its emergency communication system in high altitude: it will place its 4G LTE Xiphos portable 4G LTE broadband network on a balloon which will carry Xiphos to near-space altitude; by placing an emergency communication system on an airborne platform, a zone of coverage is created to restore critical communications in the first hours after a catastrophic event

  • NotiFind wins notification system award at DRI International 2012 Conference

    SunGard Availability Services’s crisis communication tool NotiFind was named Notification System of the Year by the DRI International Commission; the company says that the award shows industry recognition of the solution as a tested emergency and incident notification system

  • Movie-like emergency training system for law enforcement

    Raytheon’s VIRTSIM law-enforcement training system employs licensed motion-capture technology similar to that used in movies such as “Lord of the Rings,” “Avatar,” and, most recently, “The Avengers”; the system is being offered to the law enforcement community as an affordable, twenty-first century alternative to outdated training practices that do little to replicate real-life situations

  • NYC launches on-line auction of city fleet vehicles

    New York City operates 27,000 vehicles and equipment pieces covering sixty city agencies; each year, up to 2,500 of these vehicles are replaced by newer equipment and sold by auction to the general public; now customers can access hundreds of desirable vehicles with the convenience of an online auction

  • LoJack technology helps in two rescue efforts

    Two services from LoJack allow police to rescue two young kids in a stolen car, and locate an 82-year olf man who wondered away from home

  • Atlantic City deploys ShotSpotter

    The Atlantic City, New Jersey, Police Department is deploying SST’s ShotSpotter Flexsolution to detect and locate gunfire incidents and gather gunfire intelligence

  • Hughes shows Emergency Networking Solutions ahead of hurricane season

    According to the National Hurricane Center, the 2011 hurricane season’s biggest event — Hurricane Irene — caused more than $15 billion in damage and killed forty-nine people; this year, projections are mixed, as meteorologists predict fewer named storms but greater proximity to the U.S. coastline

  • Improving fast-moving mobile networks

    Mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) allow people in multiple, rapidly-moving vehicles to communicate with each other – a useful technology in for emergency-response situations or soldiers under fire; researchers have devised a method to improve the quality and efficiency of data transmission in these networks

  • K-9 units from across the U.S. helped secure NATO Summit in Chicago

    ATF K-9 teams from Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, and Texas helped secure the NATO Summit in Chicago this past weekend; on explosives-sniffing dog named Ithaca was also on duty; the dog is famous for his keen sense of smell that enables him to detect approximately 19,000 explosive odor combinations

  • Surveillance and evidence capture tool comes to U.S.

    Evidence collection, location data, surveillance, and illumination all rolled into one handheld torch is making its U.S. debut at the Special Operations Forces Industry Conference (SOFIC) and Exposition, Tampa Convention Centre, Florida, from 22 to 24 May 2012

  • Panasonic shows wearable camera for law enforcement

    Toughbook mobile computer and Toughbook Arbitrator digital video interoperability offer advantages to law enforcement and public safety agencies; adopting body-worn video solutions is a complement to in-car platforms providing video directly from the officer’s vantage point

  • Direct-mail list company adds emergency responder mailing lists

    The growing attention to preparing for, coping with, and recovering from natural and man-made disasters means that more government and private funds are allocated to emergency services, and more professionals are trained and hired to perform emergency-related services; direct-mail companies have noticed this trend

  • Aussie emergency services industry continues to grow

    Over the past five years, emergency services funding in Australia has been driven by population growth, which has led to an increase in demand for emergency services; emergency services industry will generate revenue of AUS$20.2 billion in 2011-12, an increase of 4.5 percent on the previous year