[SBE] EAS Manufacturers, Service Providers Develop Profile for Using CAP

[chscherer at everestkc.net]

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:
press at eas-cap.org  
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).