Gov't VAR Answers The Call For Emergency Response

In the wake of the major disasters of the past decade, federal, state and local government agencies are seeking out a new approach to make their emergency response systems and tactical operations more efficient. One of the first steps toward proactive emergency preparedness, according to the Department of Homeland Security, is interoperable communication.

What that means, in essence, is technology that is crisis-ready via enhanced first-response communication capabilities.

Instead of numerous radio frequencies carrying voice, data and video from multiple agencies, a spectrum analyzer converts all of that information, which is on separate networks, into secure IP packets that establish "chat rooms" or "talk groups" on one frequency that then pass from dispatch to transmission from any location. At that point, a person at the command center, or hub, combined with the technology allocating the different frequencies, deciphers the information.

Trofholz Technologies, a solution provider based in Rocklin, Calif., provides system integration and custom solutions to federal and state government and first-responder agencies. Trofholz has developed its own interoperable communications unit, in addition to surveillance technology and modular training programs for the military.

"We take capabilities from every single first-responder unit, as well as a live satellite feed, to locate what they're seeing," said Yvonne Glenn, president of Trofholz. "All of this can be put into one central unit that fits on the back of a pickup truck. Get it up and running in 20 minutes."

"We're implementing a gateway for [the emergency response teams]," added Troy Glenn, Trofholz's executive vice president.

The Department of Homeland Security states that one of its top goals is to ensure interoperable communication in all major U.S. cities by the end of 2007, and in all states by the end of 2008. In fact, since 9/11, the federal government has allocated more than $18 billion in grants to state and local governments.

"The big problem is communication. When a large incident occurs, when it happens, there are multiple agencies responding—forest, police, fire—all of these agencies responding to one [emergency and] they're all on different radio frequencies," Yvonne Glenn said.

For example, "you can have the LAPD helping out earthquake victims and they're trying to communicate with a fireman that has flown in from Illinois. They're all on the same team, only a couple hundred feet away, but their radios are on different frequencies," she said.

In the past, it's been difficult for agencies to procure all of the capabilities that Trofholz's solution enables. And although the solution provider didn't invent the technology, what it provides is a combination of usability and portability.

"We've joined forces with a lot of the National Guard units," Yvonne Glenn said. The solution provider has added the Indiana National Guard to its client roster, and has had the opportunity to support and add enhancements to the California National Guard's pre-existing system.

Trofholz, which partners with many vendors, including Cisco Systems, SyTech and Trilogy, integrates information not just from emergency response teams, but also from a wide range of sources, including local television stations. "The news always knows what's going on," Yvonne Glenn said.

The husband-and-wife team has a military background, having served in the U.S. Air Force. "[That] has a lot to do with our focus on defense," Troy Glenn said. "We know what it's like and what it's not like to have all the tools."

Added Yvonne Glenn, "This can't be a technology that somebody walked into doing. We've been researching for two years, invested well over half a million dollars. The solution is needed and will become more well-known over the next couple of years."