FEMA approves Omnilert as IPAWS alert originator for Emergency Alert System

LEESBURG, Va., July 24, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Omnilert today announced the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has approved the company's products as IPAWS alert originators. FEMA-approved organizations can now access the Integrated Public Alert & Warning System (IPAWS) through Omnilert's products e2Campus and Amerilert to broadcast alerts over the Emergency Alert System (EAS), Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA), and other systems, in addition to the client's own subscriber base and endpoints within their Omnilert account.

Nick Gustavsson, Chief Technology Officer at Omnilert said, "We are very excited that Omnilert now provides authorized organizations the ability to initiate state-wide emergency messages right from within our administrator portal. As part of the FEMA family, Omnilert fills a vital role in providing solutions for all levels of critical communications."

Earlier in 2013, Omnilert successfully demonstrated use of the Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) to interface with IPAWS. As a result, Omnilert has executed a Memorandum of Agreement with FEMA to be listed on the IPAWS-OPEN Developer List. Omnilert now has full access to the IPAWS-OPEN Test Environment to further support interoperable software development.
More important, this FEMA listing enables Omnilert to use the IPAWS infrastructure to author public alerting messages over EAS, WEA and/or Non-Weather Emergency Message (NWEM) for the National Weather Service HazCollect system. Additionally, the FEMA listing enables the capability to retrieve and disseminate messages and further capability to exchange information between Collaborative Operating Groups (COGs).