Interoperability Technology Today: A quarterly newsletter
OIC publishes a quarterly newsletter entitled Interoperability Technology Today. Its mission is to provide the emergency response community, policy makers, and local officials with information about interoperability initiatives nationwide, best practices, and lessons learned.  

Newsletters available in the library

What is communications interoperability?
In general, interoperability refers to the ability of emergency responders to work seamlessly with other systems or products without any special effort.  Wireless communications interoperability specifically refers to the ability of emergency response officials to share information via voice and data signals on demand, in real time, when needed, and as authorized. For example, when communications systems are interoperable, police and firefighters responding to a routine incident can talk to each other to coordinate efforts.  Communications interoperability also makes it possible for emergency response agencies responding to catastrophic accidents or disasters to work effectively together. Finally, it allows emergency response personnel to maximize resources in planning for major predictable events such as the Super Bowl or an inauguration, or for disaster relief and recovery efforts.


What are the components of a truly interoperable communications system, and what are the barriers to creating one?
There are a variety of challenges to interoperability: some are technical, some financial, and some stem from human factors such as inadequate planning and lack of awareness of the real importance of interoperability.

According to a report published in February 2003 by the National Task Force on Interoperability, the emergency response community views the following as the key issues hampering emergency response wireless communications:

• Incompatible and aging communications equipment;
• Limited and fragmented budget cycles and funding;
• Limited and fragmented planning and coordination;
• Limited and fragmented radio spectrum;
• And limited equipment standards.

What is SAFECOM doing to help improve interoperability?
SAFECOM has taken steps on a variety of fronts to improve interoperability.  It is important to understand that the process of achieving national interoperability may take up to two decades, but important interim measures which move locales, states, and the nation toward that goal are already in place. They include: 

• RapidCom Initiative
• Development of a Statement of Requirements (SoR) which, for the first time, defines what it will take to achieve full interoperability and provides industry requirements against which to map their product capabilities;
• Conducting a National Interoperability Baseline Survey;
• Initiating an effort to accelerate the development of critical standards for interoperability;
• Creation of a Grant Guidance document that has been used by FEMA, COPS, and ODP state block grant program to promote interoperability improvement efforts;  
• And the Statewide Communications Interoperability Planning (SCIP) Methodology.

RapidCom
On July 22, 2004, President Bush formally announced the RapidCom initiative, a program designed to ensure that a minimum level of emergency response interoperability would be in place in ten high-threat urban areas by September 30, 2004.

As part of the RapidCom team, SAFECOM worked closely with emergency response leaders in Boston, Chicago, Houston, Jersey City, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Washington to assess their cities’ communications interoperability capacity and needs, and to identify and implement solutions.  In keeping with the SAFECOM “bottom up” approach, local officials actively participated in the design and implementation of solutions in their jurisdictions.  

With the initial work of RapidCom now complete, incident commanders in each of the urban areas now have the ability to adequately communicate with each other and their respective command centers within one hour of an incident.  With the input of local emergency response officials, RapidCom identified and advanced five “critical success factors” essential to interoperable systems.  These are:

• Governance 
• Standard Operating Procedures (SOP's)
• Technology 
• Training & Excercises 
• Usage 

These five "critical success factors" have been captured in SAFECOM's Interoperability Continuum.  This document can serve as a tool for other urban areas working to improve emergency response communications interoperability.

This initiative concluded with the Urban Area Summit, held on October 27th and 28th, 2004, in Washington, DC. At this meeting, emergency response practitioners and leaders from the ten RapidCom urban areas along with key stakeholders from the local, state, and Federal levels convened to share best practices, lessons learned, and other experiences that resulted from their involvement with this initiative.