UICDS Update Newsletter Masthead
UICDS keeps you better informed so you can make better decisions.  UICDS is information sharing middleware for NIMS incident management that continuously receives and shares standardized data among many agencies during an incident.   Your everyday application gets from UICDS exactly the data you need to use, visualize, process, improve, decide, and then share back through UICDS to keep everyone informed.

 

Because UICDS is middleware, there is no new user interface to learn, no cost to obtain it, and you retain complete control over your data.  You get notified when an agency has provided new or updated incident data and you share your data with whom you want instantaneously and in the background without any disruption to your operation.

 

With UICDS you are better informed, your partners are better informed, and together you all make better response decisions.

 
 

Get UICDS Free from the Department of Homeland Security 

Apply to be a UICDS Pilot and get your own complete UICDS installation, including support, to improve your information sharing.  Make your request now.

 
 
Learn All About UICDS Interoperability Middleware in Just Two Minutes
Your time is valuable, so here it is in a nutshell.
UICDS is middleware to share information among applications used by all levels of government and critical infrastructure to manageincidents.   UICDS has no end-user interface, so there is no training or new applications to buy. 
You should care about UICDS if you manage emergencies or provide technologies to those who manage emergencies.

Click here for a two minute video introduction of UICDS from the UICDS.us website.

 

Follow UICDS on LinkedIn 
UICDS is now on LinkedIn, the premier business-related social networking site.  The site is self-described as the "unofficial UICDS discussion group" among Technology Providers and End-Users.

To join  the discussion group, View our profile on LinkedIn

 

UICDS Quick Links
UICDS Contacts

General Information 
uicds@dhs.gov

DHS S&T Program Manager 
Michael B. Smith
Email Now 
 
DHS S&T Program Support
Tomi` Finkle
Email Now 
 
UICDS Project Manager
Chip Mahoney
Email Now 

UICDS Outreach Director
James W. Morentz, Ph.D.
Email Now

wwwUICDSus 

UICDS Update 

The Department of Homeland Security Information Sharing Technology Program

 
April 12, 2011
 
In this issue ... 
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ESRIUICDS Cores Hosted for NLE 11 Information Sharing - Learn All About Participating on the UICDS Biweekly Call Thursday April 13 at Noon ET

 

The National Level Exercise for 2011 (NLE 11) tests our Nation's ability to respond to and recover from a catastrophic incident impacting multiple states, all levels of government, and our communities and citizens.  The scenario for this exercise is a catastrophic earthquake impacting the Central United States, specifically within the New Madrid Seismic Zone.   

 

State-level departments and agencies from all eight states in the area will be participating, as well as all Federal department and agency headquarters.  The eight states that make up the New Madrid zone are Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, and Tennessee.  Additional participants will include other states, the international community, as well as several private sector and Non-Governmental Organizations.

 

In addition to actual participation in the exercise as a fully-engaged player or simulator, the exercise program includes tabletop exercises, self-directed exercises, and virtual participation. 

 

To support these many forms of participation with the many different agencies and UICDS Technology Providers who may be supporting this national exercise, UICDS is establishing NLE 11 Hosted UICDS Cores to enable information sharing.  These hosted cores will be available to any agency or Technology Provider participating in UICDS for the purpose of establishing specific NLE 11 information sharing as determined by the participants. 

 

In our biweekly call we will describe the UICDS Core availability and begin networking among agencies and UICDS Technology Providers to expand their participation in NLE 11.  If you are participating in any form in NLE 11 - or are thinking about it - UICDS may be a way to speed your tabletop, self-directed, or virtual participation in the exercise as well as a way to identify other possible participants with which you might benefit from exchanging information through UICDS.

 

On Thursday, we will hear from a couple of UICDS Pilots that are planning on participating with the UICDS NLE 11 shared cores.  Then we would like to hear from all the rest of you who might like to participate.  After the call we will ask you to email us to express interest and your concept for NLE 11 information sharing and what data you will publish/consume.  So be thinking about this in advance of Thursday's call so that we can hear your intentions and then discuss them in more detail afterwards.

  

And, as always, we will have our popular "open mic" session on our Thursday call where you can ask anything about anything. And get answers from the UICDS Team experts. 

To join the NLE 11 call and our biweekly "open mic":

Call 800-366-7242 and use code 735108 at noon ET.  Web Collaboration:  Click here and enter Conference Reference: 601203  Attendee PIN:  1143

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Binary"UICDS The Movie" Now Available on UICDS Collaboration Platform at UICDS.us

Four Formats for Every Viewing Need      

  

The premiere of UICDS The Movie was a great success on the March 31 UICDS Tutorial and Biweekly Call.  Dozens of UICDS end-users and technology providers joined us to use the UICDS Collaboration Platform to view UICDS The Movie.  We then had a good discussion of many aspects of UICDS benefits to information sharing. 

UICDS The Movie is a short summary of UICDS featuring more than a dozen different applications that serve the needs of the emergency management community sharing information. 

If you are an emergency management operator, this is your chance to see the UICDS Tree of Incident Knowledge grow before your eyes.

If you are a UICDS Technology Provider - companies, governments, and universities - you will see how others have integrated their applications with UICDS.

UICDS The Movie is available in four different formats, depending on how you want to learn and use this video.

UICDS The Movie - Presentation Version:  Click here to see the full-length (just 13 minutes, really) movie that shows how information moves through UICDS and how it combines to provide what is needed to make collaborative decisions in an incident command or emergency operations center.  This movie format shows nothing by the screen and is especially designed for group viewing.   

UICDS The Movie - Two-Minute Overview:  The short summary of UICDS is available if you want to show someone the basic reasons and process of UICDS.  This separate video is available on the UICDS.us home page (lower left) as well as by clicking here. 

UICDS The Movie - Collaboration Version:   More than a dozen different technologies are quickly described in their interactions with UICDS.  In this version you get by clicking here you will be able to use the full capabilities of the UICDS Collaboration Platform to ask questions, make comments, and see the past discussion points of others.

 

UICDS The Movie - Chapter Version:  Just click here to get UICDS The Movie without collaboration but still with the dynamic chapters that let you move around in the movie to see the exact technologies interacting with UICDS that what you want.  

Four formats for your viewing pleasure ... UICDS The Movie.

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ConferenceUICDS at Conferences 

In the upcoming weeks, follow UICDS at these conferences:

National Hurricane Conference in Atlanta, GA.  UICDS will be featured in a DHS Science and Technology session and also will be discussed as part of the State of South Carolina's Palmetto Vision project.

National Radiological Emergency Preparedness Conference in Orlando, FL.  UICDS fills a major plenary session to discuss the New Jersey Radiological Emergency Response Planning pilot currently underway with the New Jersey Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness and the New Jersey Office of Emergency Management along with the two nuclear utilities in the state, Excelon and PSEG.
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PilotBecome a UICDS Pilot - Yours from DHS 
Tired of watching and want to get involved?  Are you a government agency that knows you shoud share information better?  Critical infrastructure owner/operator in need of coordination with governments?  Technology provider who wants to better serve emergency management and response organizations? 

It is time to become a UICDS Pilot.  A answer a few questions to apply to be a UICDS Pilot. 
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TechnologyProvidersUse the UICDS Development Kit To Win Contracts that Require UICDS Compliance 
Recently, the State of California and the State of West Virginia both issued requests for proposals that called for UICDS compliance as a condition of the contract.  Feeling left behind?
  
Now there is a guide to what it means to "comply" with UICDS.  Get the new  UICDS Compliance Overview report to see the details.  And you can see and listen to the UICDS Compliance Tutorial about compliance with UICDS v 1.1 on the UICDS Collaboration Portal.
  
If this is you ... and you don't want to be excluded from future bids ... just answer a few questions to get the UICDS Development Kit and example code to build your UICDS Adapter today.  Get started by clicking here.
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UICDS Biweekly  

Call ... 
Don't forget to join us every other Thursday at noon for the UICDS "Open Mic" call.  Join Technology Providers and End-Users who discuss all the value they get - and sometimes the problems they have - in getting UICDS implemented in an area.  This is the frank, no-holds-barred discussion to help get everyone operating better and at lower cost in time and money than they probably could do alone.  Nobody who participates walks away without a tip, an idea, or a good sense of how to proceed with UICDS information sharing.  

Call 1-800-366-7242 code 735108 at noon ET every other Thursday. 

 Check the UICDS Calendar for the exact date.