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        Roaming message technology adds Common Alerting Protocol

        Doug | Date: Oct 21, 2005 | Comments: 1



        Roaming Messenger's roaming message technology now supports the Common Alerting Protocol (CAP), which aims to improve the efficiency of warning systems in the US. The support converts CAP messages into Roaming Messenger format, enabling dynamic, secure delivery to wired and wireless devices including Windows Mobile handhelds, according to the company.




        The company says its Roaming Messenger software suite enables messages to "automatically roam" across wired and wireless devices, tracking down people and escalating through chains of command to deliver text, voice, GIS data, photos, and documents. The new CAP module is said to provide a simple, one-step method for CAP-compliant systems to instantly send out emergency information in the form of dynamic, secure, and interactive "Roaming Messengers" that can track users down and get responses back in real-time.

        About the Common Alerting Protocol

        The Common Alerting Protocol is a response to the "patchwork of technologies and processes" that currently characterize warning systems in the US, according to the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS). A fact sheet from the OASIS Emergency Management Technical Committee states:

        Different systems have evolved to meet different threats in different places. Until now theres been no way to distribute warnings consistently over all available channels. Nor has there been any way to monitor the whole picture of local, state and national warnings at any one time. And decisions about new alerting systems have been fraught with concerns about compatibility and operational complexity.

        CAP is a content standard, deliberately designed to be "transport-agnostic," according to the technical committee In web-services applications, CAP provides a lightweight standard for exchanging urgent notifications. CAP can also be used in data-broadcast applications and over legacy data networks.

        CAP incorporates geospatial elements based on Open GIS Consortium recommendations to permit flexible but precise geographic targeting of alerts. It provides for associating digital images and other binary information with alerts. It supports various mechanisms for ensuring message authenticity, integrity and confidentiality (where required) including in particular the work of the OASIS Web Services Security and PKI Technical Committees.

        "By providing a CAP module, the Roaming Messenger Platform will be easily integrated into many of the CAP compliant systems being built and deployed for homeland security and emergency response," said Jon Lei, Roaming Messenger's CEO. "We believe that this ease of use will accelerate the adoption of our technology into this rapidly growing market."

        Roaming Messenger recently announced that its roaming message technology has been certified by Microsoft for use on Windows Mobile Pocket PCs, with certification pending on Smartphone and Windows XP.



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