unified communications, video and hastily formed ......provided on-scene support to public safety...

© 2012 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public 1© 2012 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential 1

Unified Communications, Video and Hastily Formed NetworksEnabling First RespondersMatt Runyan

Network Consulting Engineer, Cisco Systems Tactical [email protected]

© 2012 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public 2

• About Cisco Tactical Operations

• The Fundamental Technology Problem

• Hurricane Sandy

• Lessons We Learned FromSandy

• Key Takeaways


IntroducingCisco Tactical Operations


• Cisco Tactical Operations (TacOps) is a dedicated crisis response team that establishes emergency networks after a disaster

• TacOps personnel skills include technical, operational, first responder, military and logistics

• Promotes innovative technology solutions for disaster response and other hardship situations (consulting with agencies, industry)

• Feedback to Cisco Business Units to improve products

• Emergency response funded by Cisco Corporate Philanthropy


• Initially: TacOps supported “extreme risk” missions (Iraq, etc.)• Hurricane Katrina - Cisco Response:

Cisco sends hundreds of volunteers and tons of equipment to Gulf region• Hurricane Katrina - Lessons Learned:

Many willing engineers, few trained for the environmentLess effective due to the Cisco-wide uncoordinated responsePoor situational awareness = conflicting messages, confused customers

No standardized Cisco mobile/portable platform for disaster response• Results = Expanded TacOps mission: To lead a scalable, coordinated,

reliable response to disasters with trained personnel, standardized response platforms and robust processes


• Network Emergency Response Vehicle (NERV)- NIMS Type II Mobile Comm Center- Large scale network services core- “Respond locally, communicate globally”

• Emergency Comm. Unit Trailer (ECU)- NIMS Type III Mobile Comm Center- Same tech capabilities as NERV- “Drop and go” solution- C-17 Airlift Capable

• Mobile Communicator Vehicle (MC2/MCV)- NIMS Type IV MCC (with satellite, VoIP) - Medium scale network services core

• Emergency Communications Kit (ECK)- Rapidly deployable communications capability- Airline checkable or carry-on form factors

• Platforms evolve as technology improves!

• Many other “tools in the toolbox”


Corporate Social ResponsibilitySupporting the community creates goodwillWe don’t just give money, but go into thefield with a trained team to augment resourcesThreefold approach: cash, product, peopleAttract the best new employees: they careabout what their employer does, not justgetting a paycheck

We are accountable: Cisco annual Corporate Social Responsibility Reportshttp://csr.cisco.com

It’s not just good for the community,it’s good for Cisco and its employees


Disaster Incident Responses• 2005 – Hurricane Katrina (LA)• 2007 – Harris Fire (San Diego, CA) *• 2008 – Evans Road Fire (NC) *• 2008 – Cedar Rapids Floods (IA) *• 2008 – Hurricane Gustav (LA) *• 2008 – Hurricane Ike (TX) *• 2009 – Morgan Hill Fiber Cut (CA) *• 2010 – Earthquake (Haiti)• 2010 – Plane Crash (Palo Alto, CA) *• 2010 – Four Mile Canyon Fire (CO)• 2010 – Operation Verdict (Oakland, CA) *• 2010 – Earthquake (Christchurch, NZ)• 2010 – Gas Pipeline Explosion (San Bruno, CA) *• 2011 – Flooding (Queensland, AU)• 2011 – Tornados (Raleigh, NC) *• 2011 – Tornados (AL) *• 2011 – Tornado (Joplin, MO)• 2011 – Tornado (Goderich, ON)• 2011 – Flooding (Brazil)• 2011 – Earthquake and Tsunami (Japan)• 2012 – Famine (Horn of Africa)• 2012 – Waldo Canyon Fire (CO) *• 2012 – Hurricane Sandy (NY, NJ) *• 2013 – West, TX Fertilizer Plant Explosion *• 2013 – Tornado (Moore, OK) *

Planned Exercises / Events• 2010 – Golden Guardian (CA) *• 2010 – Operation Hotel California (CA) *• 2010 – Bay Area Urban Shield (CA) *• 2011 – Bayex (CA) *• 2011 – Boston Urban Shield (MD) *• 2011 – DMI Vehicle Rally (CA) *• 2011 – Fairfax County Vehicle Rally (VA) *• 2011 – Pacific Endeavor (Singapore)• 2011 – Bay Area Urban Shield (CA) *• 2012 – Quake on the Blue Ridge (NC) *• 2012 – Fairfax County Vehicle Rally (VA) *• 2012 – Pacific Endeavor (Singapore)• 2012 – DMI Vehicle Rally (CA) *• 2012 – US Nat’l Political Conventions (FL/NC)*

2013 – Quake 2.0 (NC)*• 2013 – Golden Guardian (CA)*

* = NERV Deployed


Emergency Response Tech: The Challenge


Public SafetyPublic Safety

1010

In complex disasterswith multiple response organizations …

How to deliver the right information in the right format to the right person on the right device at the right time?

DefenseDefense

National, State & Local GovernmentNational, State & Local Government

HealthcareHealthcareCritical InfrastructureCritical Infrastructure

TransportationTransportation

NGOs/VOADs/ International OrgsNGOs/VOADs/ International Orgs


• Radio, Phone Radio + Integrated Mobile/Fixed Data • Single Device Any Device• Voice only Voice, Video, Data• Closed Teams Open Collaboration• Cmd&Control Centric In the field, social media, everybody• Fixed Locations Deployable anywhere

Goal: Mission workflowand productivitybenefits that save livesand speed recovery.

Goal: Mission workflowand productivitybenefits that save livesand speed recovery.

Evolution in People, Process and Technologies to support Disaster and Humanitarian reliefEvolution in People, Process and Technologies to support Disaster and Humanitarian relief


Hurricane Sandy


The deadliest storm of the 2012hurricane season.

Landfall (US) on October 29, 2012 nearBrigantine, NJ

Second costliest storm ever ($68B USD)

The largest Atlantic storm on record(1,100 mile diameter)

286 fatalities in seven countries

Significant disruption to critical infrastructure:transportation, utilities, aviation, Wall Streetetc.


Activated Cisco’s internal Customer Crisis Teamsupporting critical customers + deployed team

Launched response team to affected area

Provided on-scene support to public safety agencies, local governments, disaster relief centers, and NGOs in the NYC and NJ areas

Stayed on scene Nov 1 – Nov 16 2012

Restored communications to public safetyagencies who had lost pre-storm capabilities

Deployed new temporary infrastructurefor relief agencies

Implemented Hastily Formed Network (HFN) architectures for data, voice and video


Tech Lessons From Hurricane Sandy


“…I need someone up there to get on social media and let people know what we’re doing here…”– Boston Police Transcript,Boston Marathon Bombing April 2013

“Information is a basic need in humanitarian response”– Humanitarianism in the Network Age,

UN OCHA (2013)

20 million tweets between 27 Oct – 1 Nov 2012 about Hurricane Sandy.


• Agency operations all but ceased without IT and facilities (maintenance, electricians) support

• Need the right people, process, technology

• Stable backup power required for reliable operations. Need Primary, Alternate, Contingency and Emergency power solutions

• Rapid deployment of salvaged or replacement assets to restore key application services (national / agency DBs, CAD, construction permits, payroll!)

• Proactive engagement of VoIP providers (in-house IT staff or 3rd party vendor) allowed quick provisioning of telephony service via new or alternate circuits and SIP trunks

• Creative solutions to challenging problems


Every emergency is local: technology empowers anyone to organize and respond

“Respond locally, organize globally”

Multiple pre-existing and ad-hoc groupsjoined forces to augment overwhelmedresponders

Challenge: How do traditional respondersand agencies interface with ad-hoc or non-traditional organizations?


• Legacy POTS customers had very long restoration times (months!)

• Flexibility of VoIP allowed quicker recovery, even in alternate locations

• Cloud-hosted and centralized, agency-run solutions deployed

• Proper design is important(Backup Power, Capacity, QoS)

• “Survivable” solutions resilient to centralized server failures

• Specific backhaul medium less critical (VSAT, 4G, Cable Modem, T1)


• AnyConnect VPN software allowed “work-from-anywhere” flexibility (BYOD or agency-owned assets)

• ASA and Router hardware for single, multi-user sites or vehicles

• Multiple, geographically separated VPN head-ends were critical

• Agencies with specific software requirements on laptops needed more time to deploy assets. Have these pre-staged!


Significant engagement of mobile andonline technologies by gov’t before, duringand after landfall

Use of www.[agency].gov/sandy tosimplify agency contact point for Sandy

Facilitated multi-way information sharing:Government to PublicPrivate Sector to PublicPublic to Government (e.g. FDNY “911” twitter)Public to Public

• Rumor control & misinformation management

• The conversation happens with or without you.You don’t control whether it happens or not.


• Sandy = TacOps’ first major experience of video providing actionable intelligence at a disaster

• Emerging hazard situation: on-scene firechief couldn’t get proper resources over phone or radio

• Only when we put cameras on the hazard, and streamed it to city’s EOC, did proper resources get dispatched

• Also provided situational awareness for personnel inside agency buildings re: crowd situations, rising water, weather conditions


• LTE is significantly deployed in the United States

• We tested both WiMax and LTE data communications in NYC post Sandy

• In several instances, this allowed us to move awayfrom VSAT = faster speeds, less latency

• Consider the use of terrestrial mobile data whereappropriate; pre-deployed as backup circuit

• Plan for contingencies, mobile network congestion, transition back to normal operations


• “Wired when you can, wireless when you must”

• Physical connection = increased reliability

• Limits password and user accessmanagement headaches

• 2.4 / 5.8 GHz spectrum congestion

• Buildings attenuate signals

• Be prepared to deploy wired networksearly in the response!


• Sustainability = ability to maintain and support solution throughout duration of the incident (response and recovery phases)

• Advanced technology is great. Who will support it when the skilled technicians go home?

• Consider less sophisticated, more sustainable tech; or manage staffing accordingly

• All TacOps missions have success criteria, support plans and transition/exit strategies

• Plan for demobilization before you deploy!


• Phases of tech deployment (predicted):1) HQ, 2) Field, 3) Public

• Observed deployment sequence:1) HQ, 2) Public (BYOD), 3) Field

• Applications enabled rapid data sharing to/from large audiences

• Most applicable for developed populations (for now); Increasing trend in developing countries, too, where more people have cell phones than TVs

• Be alert for underserved communities, those with less access to tech(special needs / populations)


• Increasing use of Ka-band VSAT

• Attractive pricing model

• Increased bandwidth(typically 10x over Ku-band)

• Smaller terminals = more portable

• Hardware can be less expensive

• Rain-fade challenges

• Limited service provider choices


• Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in disaster and humanitarian relief must be deployed early

• Emergency ICT teams need proper equipment, training, processes to scale and sustain

• Consumer technology is getting less expensive, more available, better apps, better adoption; Leverage these trends!

• It’s all about the “5 Rights” of emergency comms:Right Information, Right Time, Right Format,Right Device, Right Person


On Cisco.com: www.cisco.com/go/tacops

Facebook: www.facebook.com/cisco.tacops

Slideshare: www.slideshare.net/ciscoTACOPS

Twitter: @CiscoTACOPS

Instagram: @CiscoTACOPS

Email: [email protected]

Emergency activation contacton our cisco.com page


Thank you.

unified communications, video and hastily formed ......provided on-scene support to public safety...

Documents