Virginia Port Authority Deploys Situation Management Suite

Nov 27, 2007 4:24 PM

Orsus, a developer of situation management solutions that optimize situation planning, response and analysis, has been awarded a contract for its Situator product suite with the Virginia Port Authority. The project spans three locations and provides the Virginia Port Authority with a system that integrates video and access control with command and control response capabilities.

The deployment began in early November. Part of the financing for this project came from a $3 million Federal security grant awarded by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to enhance security at three state-owned marine terminals.

Situator enables the Virginia Port Authority to integrate internal and external voice/data and video communications, police dispatch systems and command center alert and display systems for three of its facilities -- Norfolk International Terminals, Newport News Marine Terminal and Portsmouth Marine Terminal - in one location. It also supports emergency response and continuity of operations, real-time information exchange within the maritime domain, credentialing, and C-TPAT (Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism) compliance.

Ed Merkle, Virginia Port Authority's director of port security and emergency operations says, "the port has been on an extensive and exhaustive search of the right technology for our emerging command and control center, while we found many solutions, Situator proved to be the best value in the market."

Situator is security and safety Situation Management software for integrated control rooms. It creates an environment where current and future technologies, people and actionable procedures are fused into a unified control and management platform. Situator leverages existing security investments and empowers security personnel to focus on exception management. Situator helps transform routine and emergency plans into actionable, adaptive tasks and procedures and integrate them with many security and safety devices, management systems, dynamic data sources and communication systems.

The Virginia Port Authority owns four general cargo terminals - Norfolk International Terminals, Newport News Marine Terminal, Portsmouth Marine Terminal and the Virginia Inland Port, in Front Royal. In 2006, these ports transported 16.5 millions tons of cargo. The Virginia Port Authority's terminals span multiple cities and include distribution warehouses, cargo terminals and an intermodal facility that connects truck and rail to transport ocean-going containers.

With Orsus' Situator, The Virginia Port Authority can integrate incident reporting, simulate security related events for training purposes and deploy system analysis tools to provide a comprehensive security approach. It enables the Port to also improve risk management, minimize vulnerability and comply with security regulations governing Port facilities.

"The Virginia Port Authority is an early technology adopter and by deploying Situator the Port, for the first time, has an emergency response solution that integrates all of their security functions into a central command and control system," says Gal Oron, president Americas at Orsus. "Ports and other high-risk facilities demand the most forward-thinking security solutions. Orsus is proud to be able to meet these demands with Situator."

Situator reduces potentially costly human error, makes it easy to establish and maintain compliance with industry and government regulations and improves the speed and effectiveness of incident response and recovery while reducing operating costs.

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