One of the most commonly installed emergency communications products from Cassidian Communications is the VESTA® emergency call processing system. Introduced in 1995, it currently is deployed in 30 percent of public safety answering points (PSAPs) in the United States, protecting nearly 50 million citizens.
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Julius Genachowski has announced his five-step action plan to chart the transition to Next Generation 9-1-1 (NG911) services. Working with the public safety community, carriers, manufacturers, and other service providers, Chairman Genachowski's goal is to ensure that effective emergency response is a critical element of the broadband environment.
"By continuing to develop our line of compact megapixel cameras, Arecont Vision is further expanding the use of these high performance imaging solutions for mainstream video surveillance applications," said Dr. Michael Kaplinsky, CEO of Arecont Vision. "The attractive price points of Arecont Vision cameras make them cost competitive with standard VGA resolution cameras, and, with this wider selection of models, users can benefit from much greater image resolution and functionality in a smaller, lower cost camera."
"In today's ever-evolving threat environment, we must continually reinforce the security of substances, such as ammonium nitrate, which can be used for legitimate purposes or exploited by terrorists," said Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. "Creating the Ammonium Nitrate Security Program is a critical step forward in our continued efforts to ensure the security of potentially dangerous amounts of ammonium nitrate, while still facilitating legitimate everyday use."
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has just updated its 2011 Atlantic hurricane season outlook, raising the numbers of expected named storms from its pre-season outlook issued in May. Forecasters also increased their confidence that 2011 will be an active Atlantic hurricane season.
NYCWiN (New York City Wireless Network) is a high-speed mobile data network that spans New York City's more than 300 square miles and five boroughs. Under the terms of the contract renewal, Northrop Grumman will continue to provide operations and maintenance support, integration services, and mobile application solutions to the network for enhanced and expanded public-safety and public-service applications for New York City agencies.
Five cities will receive a total of $400,000 in National Postal Model grants from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response. The grants fund planning and exercises to incorporate U.S. Postal Service employee volunteers into community plans to deliver medication after an anthrax bioterrorism attack.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) ToxCast chemical screening program has awarded contracts to four U.S.-based companies to test up to 10,000 chemicals for potential toxicity to people and the environment. ToxCast is designed to determine how chemical exposures affect human health. When fully implemented, ToxCast will be able to screen thousands of chemicals in fast and cost-effective tests.
Raytheon has been awarded a contract to provide Rock County, Wisconsin, with its first interoperable communications system, a 20-site conventional P25 digital land mobile radio system. The system will provide seamless communications across public safety and municipal services within the county, which spans more than 700 miles in the South-Central area of the state.
"Radiation injury to the GI tract is highly debilitating and potentially lethal," said Biomedical Advanced Research & Development Authority (BARDA) Director Dr. Robin Robinson. "The early-stage results with these two anti-inflammatory agents are very encouraging, and the additional studies we're funding will determine whether these drugs have real promise as radiation countermeasures. Our ultimate goal is to develop safe and effective human therapeutics that could be used against acute radiation syndrome."
