AUGUSTA, Ga. – Under the theme of “The Power of Community - Realized” more than 330 WebEOC® users assembled April 13-17 for the Fifth Annual WebEOC User Training Conference in San Diego, California. WebEOC is the world’s leading crisis information management system. “Especially in today’s difficult economic environment, we are very gratified that so many of our users, representing more than 200 organizations, were able to join us for a week of training and collaboration – a 20% increase from last year,” said Nadia Butler, ESi president and chief executive officer. “In response to the feedback that we received from attendees at last year’s conference in Boston, our main objective this year was to offer more training,” Ms. Butler explained. “For the first time, attendees participated in formal training sessions throughout the conference.” The 12-hour certificate courses included training for WebEOC administrators, using WebEOC Resource Manager2.0, advanced board building, and managing process flow. The conference also featured many user presentations that brought the real-world use of WebEOC to life, including:

Using technology to manage the Presidential inauguration – The inauguration attracted one of the largest crowds in U.S. history. Joshua Jack, CIO, D.C. Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency, explained how WebEOC and ESiWebFUSION™ were used throughout the national capital region to help over 900 emergency managers and other emergency response personnel from 85 local, state, federal and non-government agencies achieve shared awareness. “We dealt with more than 1.5 million people on the mall and parade route area and over 3,000 charter buses,” Mr. Jack said. “WebEOC was the technology that kept all of our communication systems talking to each other.” WebEOC in action at the 2008 Democratic National Convention – Scott Field, Deputy Director of Operations, Denver Office of Emergency Management, discussed how they used WebEOC to coordinate information and resources among 20 operations centers and more than 55 different agencies. “Over 700 people received WebEOC passwords,” Mr. Field said. “WebEOC proved invaluable in maintaining a common operating picture among the various command centers.” Working smarter, not harder – Eric Epley, Executive Director, S.W. Texas Regional Advisory Council for Trauma, detailed how the Texas WebEOC Interoperability Project (TWIRP) has taken WebEOC to a new level by leveraging ESiWebFUSION™, collaborative board-building and consistent processes. “ESiWebFUSION is a godsend for interoperatibilty,” Mr. Epley said. “It enables us to connect 27 full instances of WebEOC across the state of Texas.” Using advanced WebEOC boards – Shane Booker, Director of Operations, and Peter May, WebEOC Developer, Indiana Department of Homeland Security, illustrated Indiana’s advanced process flow through the use of several complex WebEOC status boards. “We’re using Java script for multiple-column sorting, enhanced scrolling features, time and date display with multiple time zones and advanced data collection,” Mr. Booker said. A panel of WebEOC users discussed their response to natural disasters, including Hurricanes Gustav and Ike in the Gulf states, ice storms in Kentucky and mass evacuations in California due to wildfires. The conference culminated with a gala awards dinner on April 16. Many user awards were given out, including the Innovation Award given for the most innovative WebEOC concept of the year (won by Shane Booker and Peter May, Indiana Department of Homeland Security); the WebEOC Board Designer of the Year Award (won by Jeff Newbold of the Southwest Texas Regional Advisory Council); and the Boundless Collaborator Award, the WebEOC community’s highest accolade (won by the San Diego Office of Emergency Services). “We’re thrilled by the positive feedback that we have received from attendees at this year’s conference and once again we will use their feedback to make next year’s conference in Atlanta even more beneficial to our users,” said Ms. Butler. “I hope that the members of the WebEOC community will put April 12-16, 2010, on their calendars now and join us for another opportunity to get the latest training, share best practices and strengthen the bond we have within the WebEOC community.”

For more information, contact: Anne Murray Sims ESi Phone: 706-823-0911 Email: asims@esi911.com