01:03:41 PM Avagene Moore:Welcome to the EIIP Round Table discussion today! .... 01:03:59 PM Avagene Moore:We are glad to have everyone here for a discussion about XII. .... 01:04:11 PM Avagene Moore:To lead our discussion, we are pleased to have Lois Clark McCoy, President of the National Institute for Urban Search and Rescue (NI/USR). ... 01:04:37 PM Avagene Moore:Lois, I will turn the floor to you. Please tell us about the XII project. 01:05:10 PM Lois McCoy:Thank you Avagene. The Xtreme Information Infrastructure (XIItm) is a secure crisis information system architecture which will enable the nation to coordinate emergency response. 01:05:28 PM Lois McCoy:It will provide access at multiple levels and provide inter-communication among many diverse participating agencies, both civil and military. 01:05:43 PM Lois McCoy:XII has completed Phase One (Proof of Concept) of its schedule for fielding a prototype system by December 31, 1999. 01:05:56 PM Lois McCoy:XII will provide the capability of presenting a Common Operational Environment including a Common Operational Picture to all users, regardless of user platform, application or mode of transmission. 01:06:12 PM Lois McCoy:It involves the capability to collect, process and disseminate an uninterrupted flow of information while exploiting or denying an outsider's ability to do the same. 01:06:29 PM Lois McCoy:Because the communications, sensing and event technology is multi-use, XII applies equally to civil, military, and state and local governments. 01:06:43 PM Lois McCoy:The approach facilitates the focus on the user's needs and the capabilities that allow them to prevent a crisis or, if a crisis becomes a conflict or a disaster, to fight, to win and survive. 01:06:57 PM Lois McCoy:It responds to the user's requests for information via a multi-casting technique which permits multiple queries for dissimilar information to be processed in near real time on a "pull" basis. 01:07:15 PM Lois McCoy:Information, at the users request, can be provided on a "push" basis for that particular data, at the users schedule. The XII architecture combines the user's needs with the technology. 01:07:41 PM Lois McCoy:Schedule for the next Phases of XIItm 01:08:10 PM Lois McCoy:September 1998 Demonstration of XII Data Fusion Engine with sensors and satellite capabilities. 01:08:32 PM Lois McCoy:Use of multi-casting technology. Sites at NASA/JPL. 01:08:47 PM Lois McCoy:DISA USMC Camp Pendleton, Hanscom Air Force Base, U.S. Navy Smart Base(s) Pascagoula, MS and Portsmouth, N.H. 01:09:03 PM Lois McCoy:It will include Force Protection, focused logistics, and logistics tracking. 01:09:22 PM Lois McCoy:Spring 1999 Exercise of XII Architecture including military, federal, state and local participants. 01:09:38 PM Lois McCoy:Demonstrate ability to convert analog transmissions to digital entry into the XII event data base. 01:09:54 PM Lois McCoy:Fall 1999 Completion of Prototype for Evaluation for fielding XII. Essential to all the demonstrations is the ability to interoperate as the applications in the 21st century migrate toward joint architectural standards. 01:10:12 PM Lois McCoy:To use the words of Major General David Richwine, USMC (Ret.). "We need to continue to "transfer bits from one machine to another." 01:10:39 PM Lois McCoy:The most important weapon of the fire-fighter is not the water--it's the weather. 01:11:00 PM Lois McCoy:And that is information. 01:11:15 PM Lois McCoy:Get the Right information 01:11:34 PM Lois McCoy:To the Right People 01:11:55 PM Lois McCoy:In the Operational Time Frame 01:12:11 PM Lois McCoy:And save lives, property and money doing it! 01:12:26 PM Lois McCoy:The end! 01:12:43 PM Lois McCoy:Are there any questions? 01:12:57 PM Amy Sebring:Lois can you give us some more specifics about the architecture... 01:13:04 PM Amy Sebring:and the recently completed demo? 01:13:40 PM Lois McCoy:Yes. The architecture is Web based with varying levels of security. 01:14:13 PM Lois McCoy:We had 26 different agencies and folks involved in the May demo. 01:14:50 PM Lois McCoy:It was based in Massachusetts and involved Hanscom AFB, the state Emergency Management office 01:15:18 PM Lois McCoy:the City of Boston and the town of Bedford. The demonstration was 01:15:42 PM Lois McCoy:to show the ability to connect varying levels of responsibility. 01:16:04 PM Lois McCoy:both the civilian responsibility and the expertise of the military 01:16:28 PM Lois McCoy:in response to a chemical attack with a plume that blew east 01:16:51 PM Lois McCoy:over Hanscom AFB and on toward Boston causing a large 01:17:10 PM Lois McCoy:emergency evacuation in the middle of the night. The Marines & 01:17:26 PM Lois McCoy:CBIRF played as well/ 01:17:38 PM Amy Sebring:Did you actually play on the Web? 01:18:20 PM Lois McCoy:Absolutely! We didn't "fake" anything. The whole idea of theXII 01:18:41 PM Lois McCoy:is that it operates in a virtual environment. This demo we actually 01:19:06 PM Lois McCoy:had representatives from Boston and the Marines and CIBRF in 01:19:29 PM Lois McCoy:the same room but their communications were coming in to the 01:19:57 PM Lois McCoy:data base from Quantico, Boston Fire Alarm, and Camp LeJeune. 01:20:18 PM Amy Sebring:Lois, CBIRF? 01:20:19 PM Lois McCoy:Of course the Air Force input was from Hanscom, but from their 01:20:42 PM Lois McCoy:fire and police Headquarters where it originated. 01:21:01 PM Angela Bowen:Lois, Please clarify whether the environment would have each person/agency getting responses and information relating to their own inquiries or whether it could have a "chat room" feel between agencies or people? 01:21:32 PM Lois McCoy:Sorry, CBIRF is the Marine Corps Dhen/Bio Incident Response Force. 01:21:51 PM Amy Sebring:(Chem/Bio) 01:21:54 PM Lois McCoy:Oops I can't spell. Chem/Bio 01:22:36 PM Lois McCoy:Anyone else? Have you seen anything with this capability, even 01:22:52 PM Amy Sebring:Lois, Angela was asking about the database above. 01:22:59 PM Lois McCoy:though we call it the "baby" XII. We need the data fusion engine to 01:23:07 PM Amy Sebring:You can scroll back a little to see her question if needed. 01:23:35 PM Lois McCoy:ve completed before it goes into the field testing. 01:24:02 PM Lois McCoy:Angela, the data base will operate within the data fusion engine. 01:24:26 PM Amy Sebring:What did the baby use for demo Lois? 01:24:30 PM Lois McCoy:It will operate at terraflop speeds on the entry side and in near real time 01:24:59 PM Lois McCoy:on the retrieve side. That will be accomplished by a technique known 01:25:22 PM Lois McCoy:as "multi-casting" where many different people can ask different 01:25:44 PM Lois McCoy:questions of the same data base. XII is a "pull" system rather than 01:26:06 PM Lois McCoy:a "push" system where information is feed to many persons. However, 01:26:29 PM Lois McCoy:it has the ability of take individual requests for information to be 01:26:49 PM Lois McCoy:"pushed" on a regular schedule set up by the user. For example 01:27:08 PM Lois McCoy:some agencies may want the weather updated 3 times a day. Some 01:27:23 PM Lois McCoy:may want it every 20 minutes. 01:27:50 PM Lois McCoy:Anybody else? 01:28:15 PM Amy Sebring:Yes, let's open it up to our audience please. 01:28:31 PM Lois McCoy:Oh, and for Angela. Although the data base queries are not in a chat format 01:29:06 PM Lois McCoy:There is the chat capability if policy folks or others wish to hold a conference about a topic. 01:29:33 PM Lois McCoy:In addition and most important is that the system has an interactive mapping 01:29:53 PM Lois McCoy:capability where everyone sees the same map and where people 01:30:15 PM Lois McCoy:can update that map from the field (or wherever) and show the progress 01:30:35 PM Lois McCoy:of the plume for example, or the new location of evacuation sites. 01:30:38 PM Ava Moore:Lois, is the XII operating from its own server? If so, where is it located? 01:30:54 PM Lois McCoy:Or the suggested best routes for evacuation. These can be sent 01:31:18 PM Lois McCoy:to television stations etc. for assistance to the general public. (That would 01:31:39 PM Lois McCoy:have sure helped the poor folks in South Florida as they milled around on 01:31:51 PM Lois McCoy:some open and some closed roads!) 01:32:21 PM annwillis:What applications are running on the desktops 01:32:31 PM Lois McCoy:Avagene and Amy: what is your pleasure?? 01:32:47 PM Amy Sebring:Lois, Ava asked a question re server. 01:32:53 PM Ava Moore:Lois, you have 2 questions waiting. 01:32:55 PM Amy Sebring:Do you have your own Web server? 01:32:55 PM Lois McCoy:annwillis: Any application that you normally use to access the Web. 01:33:22 PM Lois McCoy:You don't need anything else to view the maps, etc. The HUB for the XII 01:33:45 PM Lois McCoy:at this time is using TANGO, a middle ware that translates each 01:34:21 PM Lois McCoy:disimilar input into a web output that can be distributed to any browser. 01:34:43 PM Lois McCoy:Different folks were using different applications and different hardware. 01:35:19 PM Lois McCoy:We used EIS, JDISS, ShareNet to name a few. We could have used RIMS 01:35:40 PM Lois McCoy:(Lotus based) but they didn't have anyone to send with it who was 01:36:06 PM Lois McCoy:familiar with inputing the info into it. (They were having major flooding at the time). 01:36:36 PM Ava Moore:(Questions, anyone?) 01:36:38 PM annwillis:What types of data fields will be in the database? 01:36:46 PM Isabel McCurdy:Do you provide training for XII architecture? 01:36:58 PM Lois McCoy:Anyone else? I'm happy to answer any questions. 01:37:35 PM Lois McCoy:annwillis We will use a limited number of data fields in the next demo. 01:37:38 PM annwillis:You mentioned GIS and weather, what other information will be available? 01:38:07 PM Lois McCoy:We hope to be able to have the fusion engine automatically tag these as they arrive. 01:38:39 PM Joe Fletcher:Will users be charged for the of Xll? 01:38:47 PM Lois McCoy:It is the feeling that the general desire for information during any emergency has only a few 01:39:07 PM Lois McCoy:common requests (different for each type of emergency of course. 01:39:35 PM Lois McCoy:But these data bases are the result of the event. They are populated by the event itself and 01:40:04 PM Lois McCoy:are archieved after the event for training and or litigation! (Ah the 90's!) 01:40:08 PM Amy Sebring:Lois, I do not have a clear picture at this point. You plan to create a database on the fly? 01:40:43 PM Lois McCoy:Isabel: There is no training needed for the architecture for XII. HOWEVER, 01:41:16 PM annwillis:Since the database is event specific, I assume that we are talking object oriented data architecture then. 01:41:23 PM Lois McCoy:any jurisdiction using the XII must be trained in his or her own desk top system 01:41:49 PM Lois McCoy:in order to gain the benefit of the increased speed in exchanging information. 01:42:18 PM Lois McCoy:Using this system, information flows in near real time from all participants in the system. 01:42:53 PM Lois McCoy:We had a great sucess in the amount of usable (really essential) information 01:43:19 PM Lois McCoy:that was exchanged during the XII mode of the demonstration over 01:43:39 PM Lois McCoy:the base line run-through of the same scenario using the "normal" 01:44:02 PM Lois McCoy:information channels (i.e. telephone, radio, etc.) HOWEVER 01:44:28 PM Lois McCoy:at least in the area of this demonstration, folks were not really computer literate. 01:44:46 PM Ava Moore:Lois, Joe's question was will users be charged for the use of the XII? 01:45:02 PM Lois McCoy:We used the actual emergency responders and folks in charge. they did a lot 01:45:22 PM Lois McCoy:of what we call "fat-fingering" (as I am today!) 01:45:27 PM Amy Sebring:How was info transmitted or input? Interactive data entry? email? files transfers? How was it queried or accessed? 01:45:44 PM Lois McCoy:So they got better information, but they didn't save much time. Hovever, 01:46:15 PM Lois McCoy:they saved more people and had a cleaner evacuation than when tried under the "normal" system. 01:47:04 PM annwillis:Did the public have access to information from the system? 01:47:30 PM Ava Moore:(Lois, you have 2 earlier questions to address also.) 01:47:33 PM Lois McCoy:In this baby version it was input via e-mail primarily. It was also put in with file transfer of logs from radios. The 01:47:34 PM annwillis:Was there a broadcast capability for the media? 01:48:03 PM Lois McCoy:persons who requested (via e-mail) certain info (i.e. the plume model 01:48:35 PM Lois McCoy:from CBIRF in Quantico) received it by e-mail as a gif file for downloading. 01:48:54 PM Lois McCoy:Everything worked super. The most trouble we had was in having 01:49:18 PM Lois McCoy:to unexpectedly lay a LAN for the XII to reach the Internet when 01:49:35 PM Lois McCoy:Hanscom at the last minute would not let us through their firewalls. 01:49:55 PM Lois McCoy:We worked around this and they did finally punch two hole in their 01:50:22 PM Lois McCoy:fire walls, one for their police and another for their fire. We understood 01:50:44 PM Lois McCoy:that they needed ulta security. However, it was an unexpected effort 01:50:57 PM Lois McCoy:that we will obviate in the future. 01:51:36 PM Lois McCoy:Yes, police had access to the system. It was Fire however that 01:51:58 PM Lois McCoy:ran the local system to which the police have access. That is how 01:52:18 PM Lois McCoy:that local system around Boston operates. Everyone in emertgency 01:52:50 PM Lois McCoy:services listens to Boston Fire Alarm (including Mass. Emg. Mgt) and gets their info that way. 01:52:56 PM Ava Moore:Lois, Joe asked if there is a user fee for the XII system? 01:53:31 PM Lois McCoy:ann willis: Yes there is a broadcast capability and a call-alert system. 01:54:05 PM Lois McCoy:This system was provided by CAN who input all the telephone numbers in the Hanscom area. 01:54:49 PM Lois McCoy:This was a 'leave behind' that we provided to the communites (three of which are adjacent to hanscom AFB.) 01:55:07 PM Lois McCoy:Did I miss any questions?? 01:55:11 PM Amy Sebring:What is the data fusion engine? Does it exist? 01:55:37 PM Lois McCoy:The data fusion engine for this architecture is being built as we speak. 01:56:04 PM Lois McCoy:Many data fusion engines exist, primarily in the credit and banking field. 01:56:11 PM Amy Sebring:By whom? Is it Java or something else? 01:56:20 PM Angela Bowen:Joe has logged off, but I'd still like the answer to the fee question? How much does it cost the user to use XII? 01:56:41 PM Lois McCoy:Numbers are m;uch easier to work with than test. Few variable, but you have the same problem of fields and templates. 01:57:28 PM Lois McCoy:This work is being done at NASA/JPL by a subcontractor Optimus Consulting Group. 01:57:45 PM Lois McCoy:When you are doing cutting edge technology nothing is ever easy! 01:58:15 PM Lois McCoy:Right now our problem is that the furor (sp?) of Y2K has eaten up 01:58:34 PM Lois McCoy:every electrical engineer in the country! We can't hire enough to get 01:58:51 PM Lois McCoy:the work done as quickly as we feel the nation needs this capability. 01:59:08 PM Ava Moore:It is time to close for the day. Thanks to our audience. We are very grateful for your time and information about XII. 01:59:13 PM Lois McCoy:The terrorists work for free! Day and night! Worry along with us please. 01:59:23 PM Ava Moore:Lois, thank you again. 02:00:01 PM Ava Moore:Please join us tomorrow night, Thurs at 8 PM EDT for our Mutual Aid session. 02:00:01 PM Lois McCoy:It was a pleasure and good bye, all! 02:00:22 PM Amy Sebring:Today is Tues. Avagene! 02:00:28 PM Amy Sebring:Thanks Lois. 02:00:55 PM Ava Moore:Keep us posted as progress is made. Sorry about that folks. I am mixed up on my dates. Tomorrow is Weds and we have a Virtual Classroom session. 02:01:19 PM Ava Moore:Carole Eiben and Bruce Marshall will discuss EENET at 12 Noon EDT. Be here. 02:01:34 PM Ava Moore:Thanks to everyone! 02:01:37 PM Angela Bowen:Ava or Amy, I will be out of the office tomorrow. When will the transcript be posted? 02:01:51 PM Ava Moore:First of next week probably. 02:02:09 PM Angela Bowen:Thanks, see you later and have a great day! 02:02:17 PM Ava Moore:Bye Angela. 02:02:27 PM Ava Moore:Good day to all!