Land-based communications is usually one of the first casualties when disasters strike. Los Angeles County saw first hand the short comings of relying on terrestrial telecommunications during the 1994 Northridge earthquake.

"The terrestrial network was broken," said Adam Nostrant, vice president and co-founder of Network Innovations Associates. "Some had access and others didn't. There was no standard terminal either, so that created its own set of problems in managing the network."

Now NIA has installed a private satellite network for the first responder network of The Los Angeles County Office of Emergency Management using a LinkStar® broadband satellite system from ViaSat. All the attributes of satellite communication make it a natural fit for emergency operations. Disasters often cut or create gaps in terrestrial service, but, by virtue of its wireless nature, wide area coverage and central point of control, satellite networks are immune to interruptions on the ground.

The Emergency Operations Center near downtown L.A. is built on a floating foundation to withstand earthquakes and other disasters.

The Emergency Satellite Communications Network (ESCN) is the new backbone for the Emergency Management Information System (EMIS) that L.A. County fire, law enforcement, health, and safety agencies rely on for communications in the event of a disaster. The new installation includes networking equipment for 137 locations, plus network services through the ViaSat Customer Care Center in Carlsbad, California.

Linking County Emergency Personnel to the Help They Need

The L.A. County Emergency Operations Center (LAEOC) is responsible for command, control, coordination and communications during crisis response and long term recovery from every major emergency. The LAEOC building, south of downtown Los Angeles, is specially constructed to withstand any number of disasters, including a magnitude 8.5 earthquake on the San Andreas fault. The San Andreas is the "master" fault of an intricate, 800 mile-long fault network that cuts through the California coastal region.

All 88 cities within Los Angeles County rely on the EMIS network to connect to critical resources from Medical, Police, Sheriff, Fire and City Hall agencies in an emergency. Designated operators communicate through the network when the Office of Emergency Management activates the system.

"The start of all this was to answer the question, 'What if we lose the EOC?' " said Rob Sawyer, who was instrumental in designing the network and now is chief of IS for the LA County Fire Department. "The plan was to use satellite only for a mobile backup, but we quickly saw the need for a totally separate network and that led to a wider satellite deployment."

Now LinkStar satellite modems, connected to EMIS terminals at every site, will be able to provide two-way communications with a dedicated hub server at the L.A. County Emergency Operations Center (LAEOC), creating a secure, emergency response intranet across the county. By the end of 2005 the agency is expected to complete a mirror site in Denver, Colorado that will serve as a backup hub for the network.

Key Attributes Make LinkStar the Choice

Three key attributes of the LinkStar Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) system that made it Sawyer's choice: speed, security, and configuration options.

Sawyer was seeking data rates comparable to DSL. While the satellite network is capable of far faster speeds, it still operates efficiently at the 1 Mbit/second download and 128 kbit/second upload speeds it is configured for now.

As a private network that bypasses the terrestrial grid entirely, security is inherent in the satellite system. The LinkStar system also supports a technology called "VLAN tagging" that securely routes packets to their intended locations creating a Virtual Private Networking within the shared bandwidth. In addition, each site has its own firewall and router.

Configuration options let network managers set priorities for different types of traffic all flowing over the network at once. From a central network management system, operators can ensure that the most critical data always has an expedited path through the network.

"As we all know, WANs are difficult to manage, but it's a much easier task with this satellite network," said Nostrant. "We always know the IP address of each site since the satellite terminal IP addresses are static, so you can do it all from one central location."

NIA has also included features that have simplified managing such a large network. Using an Altiris client and a SonicWALL Firewall Security device, operators can terminal to any PC on the network for software upgrades, configuration or other network maintenance.

"When we start sending information over the EMIS network, we'd really rather send it through the ESCN because it's more secure," said Sawyer. "Even though the primary network is still terrestrial, most likely the network operators are going to use the satellite network when they have a choice."

Small VSAT antennas are typically placed on a facility roof with a non-penetrating mount such as the one pictured here.

About Network Innovation Associates

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The skilled technical team at NIA delivers IT systems based on the latest in hardware, software and internet technologies, to provide optimal productivity for businesses. The company offers broadband communications, network design and implementation, and an array of technical support services.

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