Frederick County, Maryland Selects Blue292 For Homeland Security Solution
Research Triangle Park, N.C., June 25, 2003 – With concerns about the need for adequate Homeland Security technology continuing to grow, Blue292, the Crisis Information Management System (CIMS) software provider for Incident Process Management (IPM), today announced that Frederick County, Maryland has selected Blue292’s Blue EM for Homeland Security solution to better manage incidents and emergencies and share information with the Disaster Management Interoperability Services (DMI-Services) platform.
“In the interest of Homeland Security, Blue292 is proud to bring the best software technology tools together and place it in the hands of responders for emergency and incident management,” Kevin Coyne, executive vice president, Blue292, said. “With our Blue EM for Homeland Security and the DMI-Services Connector, Frederick County now has an effective solution to deal with such scenarios; from tornadoes to terrorist attacks.”
Located in Central Maryland, close to the Baltimore and Washington metropolitan areas, Frederick County contains the State’s second largest city, Frederick, as well as the Presidential Retreat at Camp David, Fort Detrick, and the Department of Homeland Security’s National Emergency Training Center. With over 644 square miles of land and a rapidly growing population of over 200,000, Frederick County needs to securely and efficiently share emergency planning and operational information with Federal, State, and Local partners such as the U.S. Secret Service, Maryland National Guard, U.S. Army, FBI, Maryland Emergency Management Agency, Maryland State Police, Maryland Department of Transportation, Maryland Institute for Emergency Medical Services Systems, local fire/rescue and law enforcement agencies, and eleven incorporated municipalities.
Given the breadth and diversity of the jurisdiction, Frederick County is in the midst of ramping-up e-Gov efforts that comply with recent Federal and Presidential mandates directly related to the security of U.S. citizens, including those pertaining to directives on how to deal with crisis situations.
According to Jack Markey, Frederick County’s Director of Emergency Management, “To effectively manage all aspects of an emergency scenario—across multiple agencies, in different levels of government, from start to finish – we need an incident and emergency management system that is in-step with e-Gov efforts and, importantly, allows us to share data with other DMI-Services users. Blue292’s Blue EM for Homeland Security was the only solution capable of meeting all of our needs.”
Blue292: Emergency Management for an e-Gov World; Direct Link to DMI-Services
The Blue EM for Homeland Security provides federal, state, local and tribal homeland security directors and personnel with a solution that manages the entire lifecycle of all emergency and incident situations. In the event of an incident, the system automatically alerts key personnel, quickly initiates response actions, and dynamically tracks resources and recovery efforts. In tandem, the system efficiently collects and reports on all incident information, ensuring that accurate, concise data is readily accessible. With the DMI-Services Connector, agencies can easily share data providing more efficient emergency and incident management. The interoperability platform is a key piece of the DMI-Services project, which also includes the DisasterHelp portal site (www.disasterhelp.gov).
“Effective Homeland Security is heavily dependent upon the commitment to successful e-government implementations across the country,” said Allen Wyke, CTO of Blue292. “Blue292 is working hard to further these efforts by providing standards-based technology that makes it easier for agencies, such as Frederick County, to manage all aspects of their IPM procedures.”
Blue292 Driving and Defining Interoperability Standards
Blue292 is a key driver in the Emergency and Incident Management sectors and in interoperability standards efforts, serving as one of the early thought leaders. Blue292 executives are helping shape and define the usage of incident management standards, having served as a founding member in the EM-XML Consortium and chairing the Emergency Management Technical Committee (EM TC) at OASIS. Blue292 products are supporting several initiatives, such as the soon to be available Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) standard that is being developed by the EM TC.
About Frederick County Maryland
Strategically located at the apex of five major highways in central Maryland, Frederick County is the largest land mass county in the State of Maryland (644 square miles) and home to the State’s second largest city, Frederick, which also serves as the seat of County Government. Frederick County is not only an emerging bio-technology leader, with the U.S. Army Research Institute for Infectious Disease at Ft. Detrick, the National Cancer Institute, MedImmune, BioWhittaker, and other research firms located in the County. Frederick County is also the State’s largest dairy producer, and home to major businesses such as Bechtel Power, State Farm Insurance, Alcoa-Eastalco Works, and First Nationwide Mortgage. Capping off the natural beauty of the County are the parks, including the 5,700 acre Catoctin National Park that is home to the Camp David Presidential Retreat. For more information, please visit www.co.frederick.md.us.
About Blue292
Blue292 is the Crisis Information Management System (CIMS) software provider for the Incident Process Management (IPM) and environmental Hazard Process Management (HPM) sectors. Blue292 takes the management complexity out of emergencies and environmental risks, by providing comprehensive, yet easy to use, software and service solutions to improve disaster mitigation and business continuity. Blue292 is headquartered in the Research Triangle Park area of North Carolina and can be found on the Web by visiting www.blue292.com.
Contact:
Kathleen Bagley
blast! PR for Blue292
(919) 833-9975
kathleen@blastpr.com
