Question and Answer Session with Homeland Security Client Industry Executive Steve Hutchens
To address organizations’ need to integrate and analyze multiple sources of information, EDS has developed a Fusion Center capability to provide a predictive view and allow an analyst to focus on the most important data. In this Q & A, Steve Hutchens, EDS Client Industry Executive for Homeland Security in the Global Government Industry Group, discusses how EDS’ integration expertise enables organizations – including but not limited to law enforcement and first responders – address operational problems and gain a more comprehensive operational picture of what is going on around them.
Anaheim, EDS Create Metro Net EVOC Case Study on LLIS.gov
The City of Anaheim, California, and its IT partner, EDS, have created the Metro Net Enterprise Virtual Operations Center (EVOC), a virtual, online command center for incident management and operations. EVOC instantly aggregates large volumes of data from different information systems and makes real-time information easily accessible.
Read the full Metro Net Case study on LLIS.gov (free registration required)
- Q: What are EDS' Fusion Center Capabilities?
- A: When you look at the core components of a fusion center, it consists of the services that EDS has a legacy in providing, such as infrastructure, applications, outsourcing operations and mission domain expertise. We as an integrator bring these capabilities together, including additional enhancements that we have developed such as intelligence analysis, predictive alerting, mobile computing and edge devices, visualization, Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and other supporting capabilities that make an analyst’s job easier. EDS’ solution is unique because it incorporates a best practices approach with open systems to what clients need without the limitations imposed by a proprietary approach.
- Q: Who are the Target Clients for Fusion Centers?
- A: Target clients include any federal or state government agency that is responsible for the integration and analysis of multiple sources of information for the purposes of supporting that agency’s mission. An example is the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which has a responsibility to monitor and respond to incidents across the country, from weather events to manmade events, or transportation-related incidents that may impact safety. There are so many different systems for a single agency to monitor that it becomes very difficult for them to keep their finger on the pulse of what’s going on without the assistance of automation. While at the same time, the agency must be able to continually identify real and emerging threats to life or safety. The massive amounts of information that must be analyzed may result in a loss of fidelity, resulting in oversights or missed threats.
- EDS’ approach with fusion centers is to understand the clients’ business and mission processes and provide information and communication technology (ICT) to diligently monitor and trigger alerts when certain kinds of events occur. This helps to reduce the sole dependency upon a human operator or analyst to catch every possible event or threat.
- The technology that we’re talking about and the approach we’re taking with fusion centers can work for about any agency. It can work for a chief information officer (CIO) that needs to monitor the security of an agency’s infrastructure or network or an agency’s top leadership and staff as a virtual command center. It can work for a bank dealing with fraud, or a healthcare organization dealing with medical fraud and abuse or the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) mobilizing joint forces on a mission. EDS’ solutions for fusion centers can be used in any kind of organization, not just for law enforcement, first responders or counterterrorism.
- Q: How is EDS Addressing These Clients' Business Challenges With Fusion Centers?
- A: The fact that EDS has subject matter experts (SMEs) on staff that were responsible for helping to create and staff some of the federal government’s early fusion centers after 9/11 means that we have people that know functionally what is going on in fusion centers. These experts have helped us shape our technical approach so what we bring to the client is practical and fits in their areas of core competencies. The solutions are grounded in reality, integrated in approach and utilize best-in-class technology.
- Q: What Experience Does EDS Have with Fusion Centers?
- A: The City of Anaheim’s Enterprise Virtual Operation Center (EVOC) solution is an example of how the technology that EDS has pulled together for them has enhanced situational awareness in a day-to-day operation of an entire city. This was our first major account four years ago in which we provided an integrated solution to the city that enhanced decision making while, at the same time, it allowed respective departments to retain day-to-day control of their existing IT systems. Today, this capability has been replicated into the six surrounding municipalities, elevating this capability to Orange County and is now titled MetroNet.
- Another client EDS has helped using a type of fusion center is the Ministry of Defence (MoD) in the United Kingdom. For the MoD, EDS fuses data about the battlespace, weapons system and enemy targets, and overlays the information on military maps to provide decision makers with advanced situational awareness.
- Q: What is the Future Outlook for EDS' Fusion Center Capabilities?
- A: What we are giving clients is a future vision supported by ICT solutions that are available today. At the moment, EDS is looking for clients who embrace this vision with us and want to move to the next generation fusion center’s capabilities. We are prepared to then collaborate with them to meet their specific operational and mission requirements. We will also continue to integrate the capabilities of our EDS Agility Alliance partners and to enhance and tailor our fusion center capabilities in a prototyping and demonstration lab. EDS’ government clients not only continue to demand ‘show me’ capabilities, but increasingly they want to streamline the acquisition process with industry through prototyping and pilot programs.
- With EDS, our clients benefit from our significant expertise, solutions and services, and it is our innovation that can take clients as far as they want to go.
- To learn more about fusion centers, read the Next Generation Fusion Center viewpoint paper.
- Hutchens also presented a demonstration and was interviewed on EDS’ fusion center capabilities at the GovSec, U.S. Law and Ready 2008 conference in April in Washington, D.C. View the webcasts on GovSec, U.S. Law and Ready.
Steve Hutchens Industry Contact Information
HP Government Homeland Security Expert Steve Hutchens
Steve Hutchens is leader for Homeland Security in HP’s Global Government Industry. He supports sales to clients and provides industry knowledge for HP’s homeland security solutions and services worldwide. Hutchens has more than 27 years’ experience in information systems, communications, technology, and security. He is a certified information systems security professional (CISSP) and an adjunct faculty for the University of Virginia’s Information Security Certification program.