Over and Out

Interoperable communications system are essential to successful disaster response and recovery

• By Bob Browning
• Aug 17, 2007

THE world has changed over the past decade, and emergency preparedness and response must change, as well. Historically, disasters—either manmade or natural—affected only the relatively small number of people directly involved in an event. Today, with organizations operating in a global economy, private companies and governments may be affected by a disaster anywhere in the world.

When it comes to effectively preparing for, responding to and recovering from a disaster, information is king. Responders and those supporting them must make rapid decisions—sometimes life-or-death decisions—using the best information available. They need to be able to coordinate efforts with a wide range of agencies, partners, suppliers and other organizations, often across large geographic regions. Too often, however, information during an emergency is fragmented, incomplete and slow to reach the people who need it. This problem is not due to a lack of information or lack of information technology. Communications devices today are ubiquitous. The problem is a lack of integration in the communications infrastructure that governments and private companies rely on during a crisis.

These issues are placing IT departments squarely in the center of emergency preparedness and response. More than ever before, IT departments need to develop converged communications environments for an organization to become more resilient.

Disjointed Disaster Response
During a natural or manmade disaster, responders need accurate, up-to-date information. In such hectic circumstances, however, information may come in the form of voice, video or data communications, across multiple formats and networks. This complex, continually changing information stream makes it difficult for response coordinators to ensure that everyone can access the right information when it's needed.

Further complicating coordination in a large-scale emergency is the number of disparate organizations likely to participate in response and recovery. In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, for example, first responders from Florida, Texas and several other areas converged on disaster sites—each with its own communications system. Coordinating the efforts of these groups was difficult because no work had previously been done to create an environment in which all of those people and systems could be integrated.

Organizations have tried to address these issues by standardizing as many responder groups as possible on the same equipment. But the reality is that there is simply no way to ensure that everyone who might be called on to participate in a response and recovery effort has the same equipment as the others. In addition, locking into a single proprietary technology can lead to problems, as such systems are often closed, inflexible and difficult to upgrade.

Converged Environment
So what can a government or private enterprise do to overcome these challenges? The first step is understanding the true nature of the problem. Organizations should not approach emergency preparedness by asking which products they need to buy. The real question is: "How can I create an environment that links those who need to communicate in a disaster with one another and with the information they need?"

Truly effective emergency response requires a converged environment that can connect first responders, local governments, federal and state agencies, and key organizational personnel in a consistent, reliable and repeatable manner. To accomplish this, organizations need to develop the ability to receive information streams from multiple channels—from cell phones, radios, handheld devices, laptops, surveillance cameras—and communicate information to everyone in the recovery area in any manner required—whether by voice, e-mail, instant message or video conference. Once organizations can integrate all of these communications channels, they can provide a consistent, continually updated operational picture of the situation and improve the speed and effectiveness of recovery efforts.

A converged environment offers other benefits, as well. It eliminates the need to standardize equipment for everyone participating in response and recovery efforts. Instead, all constituents can continue using the equipment they already have. Whether responders use Motorola, M/A-COM or Vertex radios becomes immaterial; everyone is connected. Converged environments also provide much greater flexibility to adapt to changing situations than a single response technology. If an emergency communications system is based entirely on cell technology, for example, what happens if the local cell towers get overloaded in the wake of a disaster, as they commonly do? With a converged communications backbone, responders can communicate via any means available. Radios, cell phones and BlackBerrys—any communications device—can be integrated into the environment.

Perhaps most important, a converged communications environment allows organizations to maximize intellectual capital. For example, imagine a critical technology expert is traveling out of the country when a natural disaster hits. As long as that employee has a laptop, he or she can VPN into the network at the moment of the event and participate in the recovery effort just as if they were there in person.

Getting Started
So how should IT executives and organizational leaders begin the process of creating a converged communications environment? First, make sure you are framing the issue correctly. Lack of communications integration is not a technology problem; it is an organizational problem. As new technologies emerge, they will add greater capability, new flexibility and more utility to responders and recovery efforts. But no new technology needs to be invented to create a converged emergency response environment.

From a practical standpoint, begin by conducting an assessment of where your organization is today. That can be done internally or through external consulting resources. Next, zero in on the specific capabilities your organization will need in the wake of a disaster. Remember, essential capabilities encompass much more than just technology. It is not enough to have resilient networks and applications. The intellectual capital of your organization—the people, processes and knowledge that will be brought to bear during an emergency—also must be resilient and survivable. Finally, people should develop a detailed budget and schedule to get the organization where it needs to be. Of course, people will never be able to afford to mitigate every possible risk. So, it is necessary to prioritize the risks that are highest on the list and try to deal with those first.

From a technology standpoint, the most important rule is to always use open technology. Regardless of the medium or device, make sure it's an open-standard technology. Finally, remember users do not have to own and operate every aspect of the converged communications environment. Cisco and IBM, for example, recently partnered to launch the Crisis Management Services for Crisis Response, which can deliver these types of capabilities as a service.

Regardless of the approach, the most important thing is to simply start thinking about it. Too many organizations and IT departments still view large-scale emergencies as something that happens to someone else. In today's globally connected marketplace, everyone is vulnerable. According to a 2007 study from the Network Centric Operations Industry Consortium, 2 billion people worldwide are affected by natural disasters every year. Your organization may be among those 2 billion within the next 12 months. The steps taken now can make all the difference in its ability to effectively respond and recover.