Creating an Information Exchange

     In August, I attended a panel discussion held at the 2006 APCO conference in Orlando, FL. The panel was arranged by the IJIS Institute, a non-profit organization dedicated to improving information sharing in the justice and public safety world. IJIS undertakes projects that make a contribution to the national initiatives related to information sharing and integrated justice information systems. The Institute conducts research and makes contributions to the knowledge base related to these areas in collaboration with government agencies and academia, which involves a broad base of IJIS Institute-affiliated companies.

     In this forum, key executives from member companies of the IJIS Institute discussed the forward momentum being gained by new open standards for information sharing.

     Companies represented included Cisco Systems, CommSys, Global Software, Integraph, Microsoft, Motorola, MTG, Pamet Systems, Radio IP, VisionAir and sponsor Fleetwood Financial.

     The IJIS Institute announced the completion of draft technical standards for information exchanges that are now being vetted by APCO and the Law Enforcement Information Technology Standards Council. The senior officials from the technology firms expressed their enthusiasm for open standards as a way of reducing risk and cost in linking systems from different domains and jurisdictions.

     The new National Information Exchange Model helps define the data elements and environment for information exchanges between public safety, emergency management, transportation and other appropriate domains or communities of interest. While the currently published standards are designed for law enforcement, the IJIS Institute plans to move forward with the development of functional, as well as technical standards, for fire/EMS computer-aided dispatch (CAD) and records management systems (RMS) to end the difficulty of exchanging information between jurisdictions and domains. The Institute is facilitating a collaboration of public sector organizations and industry in developing standards that will take the CAD and RMS interfacing challenges to a new level of simplification and reduced cost.

     For further information on the IJIS Institute, go to www.ijis.org.