AIN applications to support NS/EP disaster response and recovery

The Office of the Manager, National Communications System (OMNCS) is charged with developing evolutionary architectures to meet the changing national security and emergency preparedness (NS/EP) telecommunications requirements of its 23 National Communications System (NCS) member organizations. The OMNCS is integrating new public switched network (PSN)-based technology into its NS/EP telecommunications programs. The advanced intelligent network (AIN) is being introduced into the PSN by commercial carriers and is an evolving service-independent network architecture that provides rapid service feature development and implementation. Through the National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee, (NSTAC), the OMNCS has identified AIN as a potential means to provide features that support NS/EP telecommunications. The OMNCS AIN program is defining, developing and demonstrating AIN-based NS/EP applications. Reliable communications are particularly essential for the effective management of NS/EP disaster response and recovery efforts. Emergency response teams must be able to exchange information among resource managers, policy-makers, technical experts, and analysts at any time, from anywhere, to successfully fulfil their missions. AIN technology has great potential to support such user requirements. The author discusses an AIN architecture overview, disaster recovery needs, and disaster recovery capabilities using AIN