OGC Members Approve Release of Critical Infrastructure Collaborative Environment Architecture.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

WAYLAND, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 27, 2003

The ability to share, integrate and apply information between collaborating communities for critical infrastructure protection and emergency response has been a challenge for many years. Recently, OGC members voted to release a document describing the Critical Infrastructure Collaborative Environment (CICE) Architecture. The CICE Architecture can be downloaded at http://ip.opengis.org/cip/.

The CICE Architecture is a resource for technology users and providers to collaborate in developing vendor-neutral interoperable architectures for geospatial data and service sharing among cooperating user organizations. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the Federal Geographic Data Committee, Natural Resources Canada and others have identified achieving interoperability for geospatial data and technologies as a priority for critical infrastructure protection.

Applications for critical infrastructure protection, asset management, damage prevention and incident management depend on geospatial information. In particular they require: 1) users and organizations to use mainstream information technology to rapidly share and apply many different kinds of geographic information, 2) users and organizations to use diverse geographic software and data to address a variety of situations, and 3) interoperability between diverse systems.

The CICE Architecture provides initial insight into how existing systems and information in use across thousands of local, county, state, and provincial jurisdictions in the United States, Canada and other nations can be extended to achieve interoperability necessary to support these needs. The CICE Architecture also provides information necessary to assure that future procurements and development programs implement needed levels of interoperability.

Please visit http://ip.opengis.org/cip/ to learn more about CICE and to register to be part of a CICE discussion forum. OGC has established the website to encourage an ongoing dialog and partnership to advance geoprocessing and location-based services objectives of critical infrastructure protection.

The CICE Architecture is a living document intended to be a guide / tool for user and developer communities to advance their capabilities rapidly in support of critical infrastructure protection. OGC encourages users and developers to review and comment on CICE to help evolve the architecture. For more information on CICE, please contact Mr. Jeff Harrison, Executive Director, Business Development, [e-mail], [phone]; or Mr. Mark Reichardt, Executive Director, Community Outreach and Adoption Program, [e-mail], [phone].

OGC is an international industry consortium of more than 250 companies, government agencies and universities participating in a consensus process to develop publicly available interface specifications. OpenGIS(R) Specifications support interoperable solutions that "geo-enable" the Web, wireless and location-based services, and mainstream IT. The specifications empower technology developers to make complex spatial information and services accessible and useful with all kinds of applications. Visit the OGC website at http://www.opengis.org.