Northrop Grumman and AtHoc Team to Provide Network-Centric Emergency Notification Systems to Military Installations Around the World

Market Wire, October, 2005

AtHoc, Inc. today announced that the company has partnered with Northrop Grumman's Information Technology sector. Together, the companies will help public sector customers satisfy their critical alerting needs for force protection, operational readiness and anti-terrorism warnings. The newly inked partnership will allow both companies to better serve customers throughout the Department of Defense (DoD). By working with AtHoc, Northrop Grumman is able to provide its customers with access to the market-leading product for network-centric emergency notifications. AtHoc benefits through the wealth of experience and market reach Northrop Grumman provides in the DoD.

The companies have already signed thee joint DoD customers, specifically Vance, Laughlin and Randolph Air Force bases. These contracts, awarded through the Air Force NETCENTS contract vehicle, provide the bases with an emergency alerting system that complies with Air Force-specific requirements for installation-wide warning systems as outlined in Air Force Instruction (AFI) 10-2501 -- Full Spectrum Threat Response (FSTR) Plans and Operations. The system is based on the AtHoc IWSAlerts(TM) -- a commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) product for network-centric emergency notifications.

AtHoc IWSAlerts provides military installations with the ability to send alerts to all computers connected to networks whenever a threat is identified. Threats can range from terror warnings to an approaching tornado. The alerts, in the form of pop-up windows accompanied by an audio alarm, describe the potential threat, categorize the threat level and include instructions for action. These alerts comply with signals and messaging specifications appropriate to Force Protection Conditions (FPCONs), watches, warnings, evacuation routes, battle staff directives and other federal, DoD, Air Force and installation-specific emergency notifications. AtHoc IWSALERTS helps Air Force customers enhance and measure their operational readiness -- a key factor given the current world situation.

AtHoc IWSAlerts helps installations make sure that dangerous situations are dealt with appropriately to keep personnel safe. For example, at Vance AFB, AtHoc IWSAlerts has been integrated with outdoor sirens so the product can launch alerts through the siren and over the network with a single push of a button. Now people know about the threat and have instructions for action within an average of one minute from the alert being sent -- whether they are outdoors or inside sound-proof buildings and bunkers.

"AtHoc IWSAlerts provides customers with an effective and efficient way to notify personnel about pending threats," said Tom Conway, National Account Manager, U.S. Air Force, for Northrop Grumman. "The AtHoc offering extends the reach of the alerting infrastructure to everyone connected to the network -- whether they are hard-wired, wireless or using Blackberries. Through operational use and detailed product evaluations, DoD customers have found AtHoc IWSAlerts to be a highly effective network-centric emergency notification system."

"Northrop Grumman proved to be a valuable partner from day one," said Ly Tran, AtHoc's Vice President of Business Development. "They have a great deal of experience throughout the DoD on all levels, and each of their individual team members have been very responsive to customers' growing need for network-centric emergency notification technology. When we work with Northrop Grumman on a project, we know the customer will be pleased with the implementation's end result."

AtHoc IWSAlerts is one of the few commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) networked alerting systems that have received Defense Information Technology Security Certification and Accreditation Process (DITSCAP) certification and the only one to receive Certification to Operate (CTO) and Approval to Operate (ATO) on the Air Force Air Education and Training Command's network. The solution includes provisions for secure communication, authentication and encryption using DoD and industry-standard PKI-encryption technologies.

About AtHoc, Inc.

AtHoc provides enterprise-class, network-centric alerting systems for emergency notifications, force protection readiness, anti-terror warnings and critical communications. AtHoc offers a broad set of alerting solutions for the government/defense agencies and commercial enterprises, including IWSAlerts(TM) for Network-Centric Emergency Notifications; C2Alerts(TM) for Targeted User Alerts in Command & Control / C4I Operations Center; KMAlerts(TM) for Knowledge and Intelligence Dissemination; and EmployeeAlerts(TM) for Corporate Emergency Communications. AtHoc has partnered with Microsoft, Northrop Grumman and IBM to bring these notifications solutions to the enterprise market. The U.S. Strategic Command, U.S. Air Force, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Boeing, eBay and Juniper Networks are some of the world-class organizations that have selected and deployed AtHoc for their critical enterprise notifications needs.