The Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Association of Public Television Stations have finished up phase of a pilot program to design a national digital platform to distribute emergency alerts to cell phones, personal computers and other devices. But what’s left to do?

According to an article by Jeffrey Silva on the RCR Wireless News website, FEMA has committed $5 million by the end of next year to deploy the digital emergency system to 356 public TV stations.

 “This project demonstrates how the capabilities of America’s public broadcasters can be utilized to dramatically enhance the ability of the President of the United States to communicate with the American public during a national crisis,” John Lawson, president of APTS, told Silva.

“The current EAS has it roots in the Cold War, and still relies on technology from that era. You had to be watching one of the major networks or listening to a radio station to have a chance of receiving the alert. What we are announcing today is an alert system for the mobile, networked and digital America of the 21st Century,” Lawson added.

Silva warns, however, the “selection of a technology to disseminate mass wireless warnings remains unclear.” While the groups showcased some of the system last week in Virginia, that demonstration “largely focused on the capability of the digital emergency alert system platform, not the last-mile delivery of emergency messages,” Silva says.

To read the full article, click here: http://www.rcrnews.com/news.cms?newsId=26828