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FORT HUACHUCA — Disasters, man-made or natural, play havoc with communications systems, making it hard to provide needed emergency services.
That has been proven in recent events like the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States and Hurricane Katrina’s impact on the Gulf Coast, especially New Orleans, in 2005.
Both disasters degraded the capability of emergency services people to communicate to provide a fast response needed by victims.
The fixed communications capabilities in New York City, New Orleans and other communities were destroyed or so badly damaged as to make them unusable.
 Jaime McLain, project manager for Cisco Systems, talks about the Internet Protocol Interoperability Collaboration System set in a network emergency response vehicle Wednesday during the 25th Command, Control, Communications, Computers and Intelligence Systems Technology Exhibition sponsored by the Southern Arizona Chapter of the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association. (Ed Honda•Herald/Review) |
Afterward, the need for a rugged mobile system that could act as a communications suite to set up in disaster areas as a command post was seen.
Enter Cisco Systems, a vendor on display at the Southern Arizona Chapter of the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association’s 25th Command, Control, Communications, Computers and Intelligence Systems Technology Exhibition on Fort Huachuca this week.
Partnering with L-3 Communications Wolf Coach Sentinel, a rugged incident command truck made in Auburn, Mass., the system has drawn the interest of Federal Emergency Management Administration, said Jaime McLain, the project manager with Cisco Systems, whose headquarters are in San Jose, Calif.
What had been known for a long time was that the different emergency services agencies — law enforcement, fire, medical, local, state and federal — were not able to talk with each other because of the different communication systems they used, he said.
The Sept. 11, 2001, disaster and the aftermath of the hurricane highlighted the problem even more, McLain said. The problem is departments have different types of equipment, making interoperability a problem, he said.
On Wednesday, the vehicle and some of its capabilities — the suite can be tailored for each customer — were on display outside the Barnes Field House.
The system is a command post that uses the Internet, voice, video and other capabilities to allow numerous communications tools to work together. The beauty of the system is that it allows someone with a UHF radio to talk directly with another person who only has VHF, he said. In the past, that could not happen.
The system can only fail if every piece of communication equipment goes down at the same time, McLain said.
The company doesn’t just make systems for vehicles.
Cisco Senior Manager Bob Browning said the company has designed a suitcase-size communications suite that can be carried aboard an airplane and has other capabilities any company will need. And every system has wireless capacity.
However, when it comes to the main vehicle, the one on display at the annual show can be used to set up video teleconference with equipment that provide high definition capability, Browning said.
McLain said Cisco is currently working with a community that has provided some older ambulances to be converted into mobile communication centers.
At the top of the line, using the Wolf Coach, a complete system can cost more than $1 million. A suitcase piece can be as low as $25,000.
Cisco Systems was one of many vendors at the two-day show, which ends today.
Col. Michael Boardman, commander of the Intelligence Electronic Warfare Test Directorate on the post, walked around Barnes Field House on Wednesday.
For him, the annual show is a way to see new technologies and ideas “on ways to get the job done.”
His unit is responsible for testing and measuring systems the Army is fielding in the intelligence arena.
As he walks around the exhibits, Boardman said he will see something that would be good for IEWTD, and that can start the process of seeing if the item is useable for his unit’s mission. “We have to stay ahead of (developing) programs,” the colonel said, adding that means having equipment to verify what the Army wants works.
herald/Review senior reporter Bill Hess can be reached at 515-4615 or by e-mail at bill.hess@svherald.com.
