LOS ANGELES, March 11, 2004 (PRIMEZONE) -- E Team, Inc., the proven, market-leading provider of collaborative software for crisis management, today announced that the Michigan State Police Emergency Management Division (EMD), in cooperation with the Department of Information Technology (DIT), has selected the E Team crisis management software solution for its statewide enterprise emergency response and preparedness information management system developed and implemented by San Diego-based Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC). This first-of-a-kind statewide deployment of common emergency response software can enable all state agencies, whether located in fixed facilities or in the field, to effectively gather, manage, and share information during response operations.
SAIC is the prime contractor responsible for implementation of the Michigan State Police Emergency Management Division's GeoSpatial and Emergency Management Information Systems, which includes implementation and integration of the E Team software. The project is expected to take 18 months. The first phase of the statewide deployment began in January 2004 and targeted five mission-critical emergency management state agencies -- the Michigan State Police and the Departments of Community Health, Agriculture, Environmental Quality, and Natural Resources; several local emergency management programs; and regional medical response coalitions. Once these groups are fully operational, additional state agencies and local users will be added. In the interim, if emergencies arise, E Team's browser-based infrastructure can enable the state to quickly grant affected areas access to the system.
"We chose E Team for our enterprise system after a highly successful one-year pilot project with the State Police," said Captain John Ort, Deputy State Director of Homeland Security and Emergency Management. "In addition to proven reliability, E Team offered a wide variety of benefits, including ease of use, reliable scalability, the ability to integrate with the state's existing GIS system, and, most importantly, unmatched data sharing capabilities."
By implementing the E Team-based incident information management system throughout the state, Michigan seeks to improve coordination between agencies involved in event reporting and response, resource management, damage assessment reporting, public information initiatives, and recovery operations. E Team's advanced data sharing capabilities will also allow the state to selectively share information with federal agencies, other states, and critical response organizations in real time, whenever necessary. Lack of effective collaboration in government has frequently been cited as one of the biggest threats to our nation's security, and the State of Michigan seeks to address this shortcoming with its new enterprise system.
"E Team has always known how important a common operational picture and the ability to share information are in emergency response and we made these capabilities the cornerstone of our system," said Matt Walton, Vice Chairman and Founder of E Team. "This functionality, combined with our performance history in large-scale deployments, made E Team the ideal solution for the State of Michigan's ground-breaking deployment. We are honored to be part of such an important development in our nation's approach to homeland security and crisis management."
In addition to using E Team for response operations, Michigan can also benefit from the system's preparedness capabilities, such as pre-event resource tracking, contact list creation, infrastructure mapping, training module, and plans and procedures distribution, to better plan for possible future events.
About E Team
Founded in 1998, E Team is a leading provider of crisis management software, serving public agencies of all levels and sizes, private entities, and non-profit organizations. E Team's collaborative software offers comprehensive functionality for the critical tasks of crisis management, enabling users to better prepare for, respond to, and recover from large-scale emergencies and everyday incidents. It is used in a wide variety of applications, including emergency management, homeland security, biodefense, business continuity, disaster preparedness and recovery, event management, and training and exercises. Proven time and again in significant real-world situations including New York City's response to 9/11, the 2003 Northeastern U.S. blackouts, 2002 Winter Olympics, and Columbia Shuttle recovery effort, E Team's browser-based software links the key players in a response, allowing effective multi-agency, multi-group collaboration. E Team has worked with SAIC on a variety of projects and maintains strategic alliances with leading technology providers, including ESRI, IBM, and Unisys. Visit www.eteam.com for additional information.
About SAIC
SAIC is the nation's largest employee-owned research and engineering company, providing information technology, systems integration and eSolutions to commercial and government customers. SAIC engineers and scientists work to solve complex technical problems in national and homeland security, energy, the environment, space, telecommunications, health care, and logistics. With annual revenues of $5.9 billion, SAIC and its subsidiaries, including Telcordia Technologies, have more than 43,000 employees at offices in more than 150 cities worldwide. More information about SAIC can be found at www.saic.com.
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