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Scala Software Provides Critical Information For Miami-Dade's Emergency Services.
| Miami, Florida (April 6, 2001) -- When a natural disaster or terrorist threat strikes South Florida, the Office of Emergency Management ("OEM") for Miami-Dade County springs into action. The OEM coordinates all aspects of disaster management for Miami-Dade County including the organization of fire, public safety and medical services, road traffic situations and updates on shelters for displaced residents. To ensure that critical information is rapidly updated, OEM needed a software system that could display immediate changes. For this, OEM turned to Scala, Inc., and Scala's InfoChannel 200 software to continuously update information without service interruptions. |  |
 | Scala's software is used to display live information on five plasma screens set up for specific sections of OEM's Emergency Operations Center (EOC), each concentrating on a different elements of the disaster. The EOC contains 72 seats occupied by representatives of each agency or function to ensure that the community's needs are met. In times of peak emergency, between two and three hundred people crowd into the EOC including government officials and the media. |
"We gather all the information to get a true picture of the disaster, assess the needs of the community, and then distribute scarce resources," said Bill Johnson, OEM's Assistant Director. "Scala's software allows us to respond to information as soon as it is available--something that becomes incredibly important in times of disaster."
| The software is used to update the five information service screens that include Miami-Dade County's areas of human services, public safety, infrastructure and operations. Since response time is critical for the OEM, four operators collect and update details via keyboards and the data is simultaneously updated and displayed on the screens. Key areas include the capacity of all of the area shelters, public safety board listings of the location and hours of curfews, possible automobile traffic issues, road and bridge closings, as well as, power and communication interruptions. The large operations screen provides the "overall snapshot" of what has already been done and future plans. |  |
"It is essential for the people at these tables to know what the others are doing. So we have five status boards that are continually updated," Johnson said.
"Prior to our use of Scala, we relied on flip charts and dry erase markers, pieces of paper and projection monitors. Having someone brush by a board and accidentally wipe off our disaster plans has been known to happen."
"Scala allows for a better, quicker snapshot of the status of an incident," added Johnson. "It has markedly improved our ability to gather and disseminate information and respond effectively as information changes."
About Scala:
Scala is a leading international developer of multimedia solutions for dynamic signage, television and web applications. Scala software is used by thousands of corporations, advertisers, cable television operators, educators and consumers to create and broadcast dynamic full-screen multimedia productions via corporate intranets or the Internet to television and computer-based displays. Working with its global distribution network, Scala offers a complete solution meeting its customers' growing needs to reach a diverse audience with engaging content. Scala is headquarted in Philadelphia, PA with US and European sales offices. http://www.scala.com
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