Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Communications company gets into search and rescue

From: [email-masked]
Date: Mon, 13 Oct 2003 17:54:40 -0400

Article Last Updated: Monday, October 13, 2003
- 5:32:10 AM PST

Communications company gets into search and rescue
Video links in the field may reduce need for
centralized command posts
By Francine Brevetti, BUSINESS WRITER
PLEASANTON -- After two years of research
and collaboration with a variety of suppliers,
Doug Linman finally has his search and
rescue communications technology in
production.

The technology promises to liberate police,
firefighters, military, civil defense and
humanitarian workers from the constraints of
a centralized command post. And from the
uncertainty of relying on a single
communication system during a natural
disaster or terrorist attack.

NetworkAnatomy, built with Linman's
personal resources and bank loans, has
proposals out to governments and agencies
around the world. With supreme confidence,
the telecommunications network architect
predicted the business will grow manyfold in
the coming months and said he's close to
locking in a $20 million contract.

"In some cases we have orders for several
hundreds and several thousands (of units),"
he said, though the contracts are still awaiting
signatures.

Volunteering as a
communications
consultant for the
search and rescue
effort at Ground Zero
after the Sept. 11, 2001,
terrorist attacks,
Linman saw his life
change, just as the life
of every rescuer who
crawled from the rubble
was forever altered, he
said.

As he shared beers
with the police and fire
personnel at a local pub, Linman listened to
them describe their frustrations in saving
lives. The cell telephone facilities at the World
Trade Center

towers were gone. Rescuers couldn't find
victims or each other.

"They felt more people would have been
saved if communications had been there. We
were reduced down to runners," he said.

Linman focused on what was missing in the
search and rescue efforts -- interoperability
and redundancy. Even though such a scheme
had been proposed before, it had yet to be
done. After almost two years of effort, he's
begun manufacturing the interoperable and
redundant packet of communications
technology for use in harsh environments.
The product array, requiring the assembly of
the products and services of 18 suppliers, is
called the CommanderSeries.

It's portable, so the rescue worker need not
be dependent on a central command station.

The CommanderPack includes -- in a
"ruggedized" and waterproof backpack --
voice, data, audio and video communication
equipment, a tablet PC and information
software such as global positioning systems.
These integrated resources are accessible
from air, sea or land. Solar power and backup
systems assure it is reliable. A water supply
and injury management tools are built in.

"Everything has at least three backups," he
said.

The CommanderCase is a shoulder-carried
case with the same capabilities, minus the
medical component.

CommanderGauntlet is a glove incorporating
voice data, audio, video and text messaging.
Meant to be used in restricted spaces such
as a cave or rubble where a backpack could
not fit, the CommanderGauntlet comes with
an extremely bright light source.

Mark Spencer, rescue team leader for the
Wisconsin Search and Rescue, had the
opportunity to try out the Commander Series
at homeland security exercises held in
Moundsville, W.V., in September.

He said he "was impressed that no matter
where you are and no matter what happens to
you, you have a communications system. The
entire planet and all the satellites would have
to shut down to lose communication," he
said.

It was at that same event that Linman
discovered another use for his technology:
The devices in the CommanderSeries
document a catastrophe as it happens.

If the tragedy is the work of humans and not
nature, "all that information has to be
collected for the prosecutor," he explained.

Till now, these events have been
reconstructed by memory days or weeks later.
Whereas with CommanderSeries, he said,
"these data can be transmitted from the site
fast."

NetworkAnatomy is also preparing a
telematics system to be installed as a
console in automobiles.

The CommanderPack costs about $45,000.
The CommanderCase commands $30,000
and the glove component costs between
$10,000 and $12,000.

To incorporate all components and engineer
their interoperability, Linman and his
colleagues drew on their relationships with
former employers, including Boeing and
GlobalStar, as well as those garnered
through working contracts with the
Department of Defense and NASA.

"If those relationships hadn't been in place,
this wouldn't have happened. I have a
Rolodex to die for," Linman said.

1SM0501D1013

Devices offer interoperability, redundancy

LINKS, from Business 1

towers were gone. Rescuers couldn't find
victims or each other.

"They felt more people would have been
saved if communications had been there. We
were reduced down to runners," he said.

Linman focused on what was missing in the
search and rescue efforts -- interoperability
and redundancy. Even though such a scheme
had been proposed before, it had yet to be
done. After almost two years of effort, he's
begun manufacturing the interoperable and
redundant packet of communications
technology for use in harsh environments.
The product array, requiring the assembly of
the products and services of 18 suppliers, is
called the CommanderSeries.

It's portable, so the rescue worker need not
be dependent on a central command station.

The CommanderPack includes -- in a
"ruggedized" and waterproof backpack --
voice, data, audio and video communication
equipment, a tablet PC and information
software such as global positioning systems.
These integrated resources are accessible
from air, sea or land. Solar power and backup
systems assure it is reliable. A water supply
and injury management tools are built in.

"Everything has at least three backups," he
said.

The CommanderCase is a shoulder-carried
case with the same capabilities, minus the
medical component.

CommanderGauntlet is a glove incorporating
voice data, audio, video and text messaging.
Meant to be used in restricted spaces such
as a cave or rubble where a backpack could
not fit, the CommanderGauntlet comes with
an extremely bright light source.

Mark Spencer, rescue team leader for the
Wisconsin Search and Rescue, had the
opportunity to try out the Commander Series
at homeland security exercises held in
Moundsville, W.V., in September.

He said he "was impressed that no matter
where you are and no matter what happens to
you, you have a communications system. The
entire planet and all the satellites would have
to shut down to lose communication," he
said.

It was at that same event that Linman
discovered another use for his technology:
The devices in the CommanderSeries
document a catastrophe as it happens.

If the tragedy is the work of humans and not
nature, "all that information has to be
collected for the prosecutor," he explained.

NetworkAnatomy is also preparing a
telematics system to be installed as a
console in automobiles.>

The CommanderPack costs about $45,000.
The CommanderCase commands $30,000
and the glove component costs between
$10,000 and $12,000.

To incorporate all components and engineer
their interoperability, Linman and his
colleagues drew on their relationships with
former employers, including Boeing and
GlobalStar, as well as those garnered
through working contracts with the
Department of Defense and NASA.

"If those relationships hadn't been in place,
this wouldn't have happened. I have a
Rolodex to die for," Linman said.

http://www.sanmateocountytimes.com/Stories/0,1413,87~11271~1695439,00.html#

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