Interop-Solutions, LLC                                

Incident Response Management

Paraclete©                                                             Communications Interoperability Management System

"Interop-Solutions provides the experience within the Public Safety Sector to ensure that Interoperability will be reliable, easy to use and cost effective.” 

Interop-Solutions has thoroughly examined the 1st Responder world as it existed pre 9/11. We found the following  requirements necessary through out the US :       

A lack of these conditions guaranteed a fractured response to the 9/11 incident that we all witnessed on national television. This same kind of fractured response continues to be the normal mode of operation in the majority of jurisdictions in the US today.  The Interop-Solutions team concluded that there had to be a better way. There is. It's called Paraclete. Interop-Solutions developed it. It's real and operational today.

 

Our team followed five basic rules in developing a managed, structured system to address 1st responder interoperability needs. 

1. All incidents are local (be it an injury accident on I-80 in Nebraska, or the New York City 9/11incident).

2. Local rules must govern.

3. Local legacy communications equipment will be used.

4. Procedures used in day to day operations will be used for all incident levels.

5. Standardized command and control procedures (planning-coordinating-directing-controlling) are life savers

  

The Paraclete System Interface facilitates: 

v     Inventory and Planning  for Utilization of Resources

v     Analysis and Planning of Interagency Agreements

v     Emergency Response and Communication Planning

v     Agency and Resource Requirement Analysis and Allocation

v     Automated Execution of Emergency Response Plans

v     Dispatcher Friendly Control Environment for Ease in Making “on the spot” Revisions to the Incident Based Response Plan 

  

The Paraclete System is based on three basic tenets: 

Use Day-to-Day           

v     The system must be used as the regular mode of operation to have any chance of success in a major event. A major disaster, terrorist incident, natural disaster, etc. is NOT the time to implement interoperability rules – they must be pre-planned and exercised in Day-to-Day operations.

 

 

Use Existing Assets: 

v     The operational cost of replacing existing, usable radio equipment with common band (800Mhz, for example) radios is very expensive, especially when the result actually introduces yet another frequency that is not interoperable with the range of responders required for an incident.  In addition, intra-operability and talk groups, etc. still need to be managed.

 

 

 

v   The financial cost of replacing existing, usable radio equipment with new radios is extremely expensive.  The average cost of a statewide, single frequency system is approximately $150,000,000 for first responders.  The average estimated cost to install Paraclete for a statewide, integrated network is approximately $15-20,000,000, for all state, federal, public, private, and support user interconnectivity and alleviates the recurring maintenance costs associated with other systems, which can be as high as $7 million a year.

 

 

 

Use Local Rules: 

v    Each EOC, Police, Fire, EMS, etc. operates under a different set of procedures and operating rules.  Paraclete facilitates establishing local rules at the EOC level with escalation rules established at the County, State and Federal levels.

 

v    Paraclete provides a very short path to operational interoperability as well as a long-term migration backbone to facilitate new technologies as they become technically and economically feasible.   

  

Strengths Of The System 

Paraclete provides management for communications interoperability on an incident and location specific basis, and is not tied to any specific brand, model, or type of proprietary hardware.

 Interoperability Management Requires:

v     On demand interoperability

v     Protects Intra-operability

v     Prevents frequency overload

v     Interoperability Planning Tool

v     Rule management by Jurisdiction, Event and Nature

v     Event simulation tool 

Interoperability Management Requires the Ability to Manage:

v     Incident

v     Switch

v     Radio

v     Frequency 

Incident Management Requires Support of:

v     Ad-hoc addition of agencies

v     Ad-hoc radio assignment

v     Ad-hoc frequency changes

v     Ad-hoc inclusion of mobile assets 

Switch Management Requires the Ability to:

v     Support Mobile switches

v     To compliment fixed switches

v     To free up fixed switches

v     To act as mobile repeaters

v    Automatically select switch, based on incident location and available radio coverage by frequency

 Radio Management Requires the Ability to:

v     Automatically select and change the channel on the radio

v     Automatically select and set the delay for the frequency on the radio

v     Manage rule-based frequency selection

v     Manage frequency loads

v     Insure FCC compliance

v     Manage Authorization by Agency Frequency

Ø      MOU (Memo of Understanding)

Ø      IGA (Inter-Governmental Agreement)

Ø      Mutual Aid Agreement

Ø      Support Event/Nature conditional agreements

 Frequency Management:

v    Insures no two switches make the same patch within coverage area

v    Insures incidents do not reuse frequencies within coverage area.

v    Automatically selects tower based on incident location and available radio coverage by frequency

 

Paraclete Provides Voice and Data Communication System Interconnectivity, Emergency Communications Planning, and Communication Training Capabilities for Public Safety within Local, State, Federal, and Tribal Governments and Homeland Security. Paraclete facilitates the Management of Incident Specific, Agency Defined Emergency Response Communication.