New Server to Speed Access to Information for Emergency Response.

• Author: Willingham, Stephen
• Position: Battelle, software company, to develop it - Brief Article

Battelle, a research and development company, headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, has been named to design a user-friendly web-based sewer to speed up access to information for civilian emergency-response teams responding to domestic terrorist attacks.

The Marine Corps has awarded Battelle a two-year contract, worth $11 million, to design a consequences-management information (CMI) services system, the company announced. This system is intended to offer easier access to common databases and commercial venues that will answer the needs of first responders, whether they are located in Los Angeles or Johnstown, Pa.

Battelle is nor scrapping any existing communications systems that are already in place, explained Dick Munnikhuysen, the firm's CMI program manager. "We will be like a server," he said. "[For example,] if you wanted some outdoor clothing from L.L. Bean, you would use your sewer to connect with Bean so you could get what you needed." This is exactly the role that CMI will fill for first responders--those reams first on the scene after a terrorist attack involving weapons of mass destruction (WMD)--he said.

This technology will help federal, state and local agencies share information about any WMD event, Munnikhuysen said.

Battelle is partnering with the Marine Corps System Command/Combat Support Logistics Element, in Quantico, Va., to develop a system to provide community-based disaster teams with essential and timely information. Should first responders find that they are in over their heads, military teams then would be better prepared to step up and deliver support, with knowledge of a situation that they would be approaching, said Munnikhuysen.

The need to develop this type of server came about in response to a series of presidential directives aimed at exploring ways to cope with any domestic terrorist act.

"We are looking for a more seamless approach to information accessibility," said Munnikhuysen. "Federal agencies...