Knowledge Center Goes Live for NASCAR Pocono 500 Race
Knowledge Center™—a daily use incident and event management software application—went live in Pennsylvania's Northeast Counter-Terrorism Task Force (NE-CTTF) in May.
The Task Force will showcase Knowledge Center™ June 6-7 at one of their annual significant events—the NASCAR Pocono 500 Race. Knowledge Center™ enables the Task Force to generate a real-time "common operating picture" and integrate resources at the local, county, state, and federal levels through a "virtual collaborative environment." Whether it's managing large national events like the NASCAR race or low impact incidents like hazmat spills, Knowledge Center™ enables the Task Force to meet their daily emergency management goals and requirements.
The Northeast Region includes 8 counties in eastern Pennsylvania covering 4,200 square miles, a population of 900,000 people, and 227 local municipalities including the cities of Allentown, Bethlehem, and Scranton. Guy Miller, Chair, NE-CTTF: "Not being an Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI) region may limit our financial resources, but it does not limit our emergency management needs. We host two big NASCAR races every year in Pocono that require tremendous coordination. We have significant cities and industrial centers throughout our Region. We looked at all the tools in the marketplace and have no doubt that we made the right decision with the SSI team and Knowledge Center™ for our emergency planning, response, and recovery efforts."
Knowledge Center™ enables the Task Force to manage incidents using the industry-standard Incident Command System (ICS) and National Incident Management System (NIMS). In addition, Knowledge Center™ provides tools to better track critical infrastructure / key resource (CI/KR) data and then effectively share that information throughout the emergency management community. Because Knowledge Center™ is built using a COTS-based interoperable, open-standards technology, SSI can seamlessly integrate other existing regional investments in systems and data into a single consolidated environment.
John Degory, Director, SSI Knowledge Center, Inc., said, "Whether it's the FEMA Disaster Operations Directorate at the National level, the Philadelphia UASI, or now the Northeast Counter-Terrorism Task Force at a Regional level, we consider each customer a key partner no matter the size or scope. We are looking forward to supporting the NE-CTTF this summer at the NASCAR Races in Pocono and the U.S. Women's Golf Open in Bethlehem, as well as any future significant events over the next five years."