COLUMBIA, MD /GLOBE NEWSWIRE/ -- Integral Systems Inc. announced that its wholly owned subsidiary Newpoint Technologies has been awarded a contract to provide its Compass Network Management Software (NMS) to Communications & Power Engineering (CommPower) Inc. for centralized monitoring of all assets of NOAA's Weather Radio Improvement Program (WRIP) system.
The WRIP system is a nationwide (and beyond) dissemination system that consolidates and enhances NOAA's existing NOAA Weather Radio (NWR) and National Weather Wire Service (NWWS) capabilities. Through WRIP, real-time weather information and warnings from local Weather and River Forecast Offices will be broadcast to the public via the NWR transmitter grid and Web Farm Internet services. In conjunction with federal, state, and local emergency managers and other public officials, WRIP will also broadcast, via its satellite dissemination network, warning and post-event information for all types of hazards, including natural (such as earthquakes or avalanches), environmental (such as chemical releases or oil spills), and public safety (such as AMBER alerts or 911 telephone outages).
The COMPASS Software to be integrated by CommPower will allow NOAA Operations staff to monitor the transmission equipment at the 1000+ transmitter sites and 122 Weather Forecast Offices from the WRIP Master Processing Center (MPC) in the Washington DC area. The COMPASS Software is also provided for the WRIP backup MPC, which will allow them to continue to operate the system in the event that the primary MPC is out of service for any reason. WRIP operators are notified by the COMPASS NMS when there are alarms or degradation within any broadcast/transmission path, which may negatively affect the ability of WRIP to deliver its weather/warning broadcasts. Once notified, the operators are provided with the controls necessary to remotely respond to and diagnose these failures and restore the transmission to a healthy state.
"COMPASS will provide the WRIP operators with a capability they have never had before, which is complete visibility into their transmission network and the ability to diagnose and recover from failures without unnecessarily dispatching technicians to the site," said Kathy Nuckles, President of CommPower. "For WRIP, COMPASS was found to be the best choice to fulfill NOAA's requirements for managing remote equipment. Not only does the product provide a comprehensive management framework, but it also provides flexible API's, which allow its integration with both standard and custom built devices. Additionally its flexible GUI will allow us to provide state-of-the-art graphics pages that are tailored specifically to NOAA operations and business practices."
About Integral Systems
Integral Systems Inc., of Columbia, MD, applies more than 25 years experience to provide integrated technology solutions for satellite communications–interfaced systems. Customers have relied on the Integral Systems family of companies (Integral Systems Inc., Integral Systems Europe, Lumistar Inc., Newpoint Technologies Inc., RT Logic, and SAT Corp.) to deliver on time and on budget for more than 250 satellite missions. Our dedication to customer service has solidified long-term relationships with the U.S. Air Force, NASA, NOAA, and nearly every satellite operator in the world. Integral Systems was named the Region III Prime Contractor of the Year by the U.S. Small Business Administration in 2009.
About Commpower
From inception in 1984, CommPower has achieved excellence in the system development and integration market, with emphasis on real-time message processing/switching and data communications applications for military and meteorological markets.