Fwd: Media Release: Emergency Alert System Manufacturers and Service Providers Develop Profile for Using Common Alerting Protocol in Broadcast EAS

Delivered-To:


Delivered-To: 

X-Originating-IP: 66.160.46.10

User-Agent: Web-Based Email 4.14.4

From: 

To: 

Subject: Media Release: Emergency Alert System Manufacturers and Service
Providers

 Develop Profile for Using Common Alerting Protocol in Broadcast
EAS

Date: Thu, 25 Sep 2008 11:54:56 -0700

X-pstn-neptune: 0/0/0.00/0

X-pstn-levels:     (S:99.90000/99.90000 CV: 0.9999
R:95.9108 P:95.9108 M:97.0282 C:98.6951 )

X-pstn-settings: 5 (2.0000:2.0000) s CV gt3 gt2 gt1 r p m c 

X-pstn-addresses: from <> [419/14] 

Press Release 

Emergency Alert System Manufacturers and Service
Providers Develop Profile for Using Common Alerting Protocol in Broadcast
EAS 

Industry Leaders Collaborate on Utilizing Open
Standard to Facilitate Interoperability of Advanced Emergency Alert
System Capabilities in the U.S.  

25 September 2008 - The EAS-CAP Industry Group - a broad coalition
of equipment, software and service providers to the Emergency Alert
System - today announced that its members have released a draft profile
for the effective use and translation of the open, non-proprietary Common
Alerting Protocol (CAP)1 for the next
generation of broadcast EAS. The profile will be an important step
towards improving interoperability across agencies, jurisdictions,
systems and vendors, helping to ensure that the public benefits from
improved capabilities to communicate weather, civil, AMBER and other
alerts via broadcast media. 

The Industry Group will provide this profile as a recommendation to U.S.
governmental agencies and industry associations on the use of CAP for EAS
purposes, including the FCC, FEMA, National Weather Service, and other
organizations. Group members intend to rapidly implement the EAS-CAP
profile within their own systems and equipment. The EAS-CAP profile
provides developers and manufacturers guidelines as to which elements in
a CAP message are required for an EAS message, identifies how a mandatory
alert from a state/territorial Governor would be identified, describes
basic authentication and security features, recommends accepted formats
for audio messages, and other features.  The output of the Group's
work is publicly accessible on its website
www.eas-cap.org,
and the Group will offer a mechanism for public comment on that site. The
Group plans to continue its work to solicit feedback and provide
recommendations to EAS stakeholders. 

  

Background:

The Group was established in response to the July 2007 decision by the
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to maintain EAS and have all U.S.
EAS participants adopt an ability to receive messages using the Common
Alerting Protocol (CAP) within 180 days after the Federal Emergency
Management Agency (FEMA) formally adopts CAP version 1.1 as a standard
for EAS.2  FEMA's announcement on CAP
adoption is expected in the first quarter of 2009. 

 

The Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) is a simple but general format for
exchanging all-hazard emergency alerts and public warnings over all kinds
of networks. CAP allows a consistent warning message to be disseminated
simultaneously over many different warning systems, such as computers,
wireless communications, alarms, and television radio and cable via
broadcast EAS. 

  

Group members supporting the EAS-CAP Profile include: 

Digital Alert Systems, LLC

Hormann America, Inc.

iBiquity Digital Corporation

Monroe Electronics, Inc.

MyStateUSA

Sage Alerting Systems, Inc.

SpectraRep, LLC

TFT, Inc.

Trilithic, Inc.

Warning Systems, Inc.

 

Additional information:

For more information about the EAS-CAP Industry Group and its EAS-CAP
Profile, visit

http://www.eas-cap.org. 

For more information about the EAS, visit the FCC's Public Safety &
Homeland Security Bureau

http://www.fcc.gov/pshs/eas/. For more information about
the FCC's Report and Order on CAP, visit

http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-07-109A1.pdf
. 

 

About the EAS-CAP Industry Group:

The EAS-CAP Industry Group is an informal coalition of Emergency Alert
System equipment, software and

service providers. Using the best available information, the EAS-CAP
Industry Group has collaborated to

develop a voluntary profile for the interoperability of advanced
Emergency Alert System (EAS) capabilities in the United States using the
Common Alerting Protocol (CAP). Specifically, the Industry Group
collaborated to coordinate interoperable data standards among Emergency
Alert System equipment, software and service providers. Further, the
Industry Group will seek to provide recommendations to U.S. governmental
agencies and industry associations on the use of CAP for EAS purposes.

  

The EAS-CAP Industry Group's intention is to offer an interoperable
EAS-CAP data profile that is a freely

available resource for EAS participants, equipment, software and service
providers, to the benefit of public alert and warning capabilities
throughout the United States. It is the intention of the Industry Group
that any work product of the group be free of copyright and intellectual
property constraints. 

Press contact:



www.eas-cap.org 

1 The Common Alerting Protocol v1.1 was developed by the
Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards
(OASIS), a non-profit, international consortium that develops standards.

2 Review of the Emergency Alert System, Second Report and Order and
Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, 22 FCC Rcd. 13275 (2007), EB
Docket No. 04-296 (Second EAS Report and Order).

Content-Type: application/pdf; name="EAS-CAP Industry Group Media
Release.pdf"; x-avg-checked=avg-ok-295F5802

Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="EAS-CAP Industry Group
Media Release.pdf"; 

Elysa Jones

Chair, OASIS Emergency Management Technical Committee

Chief Technology Officer, Chief Operating Officer

Warning Systems, Inc.

256-880-8702 x102

256-694-8702 cell

ejones@warningsystems.
com 

EAS-CAP Industry Group Media Release.pdf