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WASHINGTON, D.C. - Global Security Systems (GSS) and Northrop Grumman today announced a major teaming agreement with Northrop Grumman Corporation’s (NYSE: NOC) Mission Systems sector to deploy a national, state and local alert and warning system that leverages wireless communications infrastructure and consumer devices. The combined systems will allow the president, state and local officials,  large municipalities, critical infrastructure and emergency management agencies to seamlessly and immediately communicate with first responders as well as citizens via cell phones, PDAs and personal wall-mounted devices in the event of a war, natural disaster, national, regional or local emergency. In particular, this collaboration would offer a turnkey solution for the deployment of an Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS) by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) or other state and local emergency management organizations.
“Seven years after the 9-11 terror attacks, it is clear that the need to alert first responders and citizens in the event of a disaster via text message, cell phone or other PDA-type devices still exists” said Robert Adams, CEO of GSS. “We, like emergency management officials throughout the country, understand that the most effective way to save lives in the event of a disaster is to quickly alert individual citizens in the widest, easiest way possible. This combined system does exactly that. Both GSS and Northrop  will continue to assemble a group of stakeholders in the interest of working with the Department of Homeland Security to begin implementing an effective Public Alert and Warning System.”

Advantages to the Combined NG and GSS Alertsystem include:

1.    Alert Framework spanning multiple agencies and levels of government

2.    Installed base at EOCs and UASI Centers with authenticated messaging

3.    Rapid “on-ramp” of mobile service providers & device integration labs

4.    Expertise in S&T demonstration and transition programs

5.    AlertFM’s grouping technology enables alerts to be sent to a specific zip code or neighborhood, rather than an entire community.

6.    The system uses an FM chip that can be inserted into many common devices such as cell phones, pagers, smoke detectors, PDS, and other devices to make them “GSS-enabled” and able to receive alert messages.

7.    Standard alert notifications will include weather, homeland security, and local alerts including traffic emergencies and Amber alerts.

As part of the team with Northrop, GSS will contribute its expertise in state and local aggregation of emergency messages and hands-on experience in developing and deploying the AlertFM system. That technology would serve as a key component of the national turnkey solution advanced by Northrop and GSS.

Founded two years after the attacks of September 11, 2001, GSS served on the FCC-established committee to develop Commercial Mobile Alert Standards (CMAS), in part because it had developed a technology, marketed as AlertFM, which emergency management officials can use to create and send digital alerts and messages, including National Oceanic and Atmospheric (NOAA) weather warnings, evacuation instructions, homeland security notices, Amber Alerts and other emergency information to first responders, school officials, businesses and citizens based on geographic or organizational groupings.

GSSNet Alert FM is currently installed in more than 85 FM stations in seven states (La., Miss., Ala., Ariz., Tenn., Fla., and Va.). The devices currently receive content from broadcasting partners, as well as state and local agencies to ensure wide distribution of NOAA, DHS and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) content including Presidential Alert, Amber Alert and Imminent danger alerts. Partners such as Northrop Grumman currently manage the information technology infrastructure at Emergency Operating Centers in 80 U.S. cities, many of whom actively test systems under the Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI).

For more information about GSS and the AlertFM technology, please visit www.alertfm.com, www.gssnet.us and www.aen911.com.

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Featured Topics in this month’s newsletter:

- AEN AND NBC SIGN PACT
- AEN WINS ITFLORIDA COMPETITION
- ALERT FM, AN AEN PARTNER, EXTENDS ITS REACH IN THE SOUTHEAST
- AEN INSTALLATIONS EXTEND DEEPER INTO FLORIDA
- CALIFORNIA REORGANIZES EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT UNIT

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Sponsored by ITFlorida, a public-private partnership that assists the state’s congressional; delegation, the governor, the legislature and others, the awards honor notable achievements within Florida’s information technology industry.  Finalists in other categories included Honeywell, Citrix, Florida Atlantic University, Florida Power & Light and other prominent companies and organizations.

“We were deeply honored by our selection as a finalist and we are very proud of winning this award, which shows once again how far AEN has come in such a short time,” said Bryan Norcross, AEN’s president and chief executive officer.

The awards were distributed during an October 6, 2008 Awards Gala in Orlando. The group was addressed by Sandy Baruah, administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration, U.S Senator Bill Nelson and other notable speakers.

About ITFlorida:
ITFlorida serves the state as an umbrella organization, comprised of both public and private technology leaders; and advocates for sound public policy to the Governor, the Legislature, and Enterprise Florida on technology issues and initiatives. http://www.itflorida.com/wb2/

About AEN:
America’s Emergency Network was designed by Bryan Norcross, former hurricane analyst for the CBS network, and Max Mayfield, former director of the National Hurricane Center. AEN’s goal is to be sure that every emergency manager, whether from a large county or a small town, has an outlet to reach the public, the media and other government officials. The satellite-based AEN system is designed to continue to work after a disaster when power lines, phone lines, cell phone towers and terrestrial Internet systems are knocked out. Note: All emergency messages transmitted through the AEN system fully conform to CAP, the FEMA-mandated national protocol for creating and sending emergency messages.

About Brampton Crest:
Brampton Crest International, Inc. is a publicly traded company which recently acquired America’s Emergency Network, LLC (http://emergency.info). Brampton also owns and operates a wholly owned finance subsidiary.
Certain statements in this press release that are not historical facts are “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements may be identified by the use of words such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “expect,” “future,” “may,” “will,” “would,” “should,” “plan,” “projected,” “intend,” and similar expressions. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Brampton Crest International, Inc. (the Company) to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. The Company’s future operating results are dependent upon many factors, including but not limited to the Company’s ability to: (i) obtain sufficient capital or a strategic business arrangement to fund its expansion plans; (ii) build the management and human resources and infrastructure necessary to support the growth of its business; (iii) competitive factors and developments beyond the Company’s control; and (iv) other risk factors discussed in the Company’s periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which are available for review at www.sec.gov under “Search for Company Filings.”

Contact:
For further information:
Bryan Norcross
President & CEO
America’s Emergency Network, Inc.
(305) 722-4800

Miami, FL. - October 2, 2008 - America’s Emergency Network, Inc. (AEN), a wholly owned subsidiary of Brampton Crest International, Inc. (OTCBB: BRCI), today announced that it has entered into a consulting agreement with Peacock Productions, NBC News’ in-house production company, located in New York City.

Under the agreement, AEN and Bryan Norcross, AEN’s president and chief executive officer, will assist NBC News in identifying new opportunities in programming content and technology in the fields of weather and emergency information. Additionally, the parties will discuss how AEN’s emergency communications technology can be used to efficiently distribute detailed emergency news briefings and live interviews.

AEN, a pioneering Internet and satellite-based network, was created by Mr. Norcross, a nationally recognized broadcaster, forecaster and hurricane expert, and Max Mayfield, former director of the National Hurricane Center, to serve Americans when local or regional disasters strike.

“We are excited to be working with NBC News to develop new communications systems that leverage the latest technology to distribute detailed, critical information more efficiently than was previously possible,” said Mr. Norcross.

AEN’s state-of-the-art system remains in beta test mode as it is being deployed throughout Florida and eventually throughout the nation. Nevertheless, it already has served Floridians and others during the recent swarm of land-falling hurricanes, providing them with direct, easy and complete access to news briefings and critical advisories from Florida’s governor and other state and local officials.

Mr. Norcross added, “We look forward to this promising opportunity, which represents another major step in AEN’s rapid growth.”

About AEN:

America’s Emergency Network was designed by Bryan Norcross, former hurricane analyst for the CBS network, and Max Mayfield, former director of the National Hurricane Center. AEN’s goal is to be sure that every emergency manager, whether from a large county or a small town, has an outlet to reach the public, the media and other government officials. The satellite-based AEN system is designed to continue to work after a disaster when power lines, phone lines, cell phone towers and terrestrial Internet systems are knocked out. Note: All emergency messages transmitted through the AEN system fully conform to CAP, the FEMA-mandated national protocol for creating and sending emergency messages.

About Brampton Crest:

Brampton Crest International, Inc. is a publicly traded company which recently acquired America’s Emergency Network, LLC (http://emergency.info). Brampton also owns and operates a wholly owned finance subsidiary. Certain statements in this press release that are not historical facts are “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements may be identified by the use of words such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “expect,” “future,” “may,” “will,” “would,” “should,” “plan,” “projected,” “intend,” and similar expressions. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Brampton Crest International, Inc. (the Company) to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. The Company’s future operating results are dependent upon many factors, including but not limited to the Company’s ability to: (i) obtain sufficient capital or a strategic business arrangement to fund its expansion plans; (ii) build the management and human resources and infrastructure necessary to support the growth of its business; (iii) competitive factors and developments beyond the Company’s control; and (iv) other risk factors discussed in the Company’s periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which are available for review at www.sec.gov under “Search for Company Filings.”

Contact:

For further information:

Bryan Norcross
President & CEO
America’s Emergency Network, Inc.
(305) 722-4800

Powered by HughesNet®, service provides residents with access to real-time news briefings from state and local government officials

Germantown, Md., September 29, 2008 –Hughes Network Systems, LLC (HUGHES), the global leader in broadband satellite networks and services, today announced that America’s Emergency Network, Inc. (AEN), a satellite-based emergency communications system powered by the nationwide HughesNet broadband satellite service, has been successfully streaming real-time news briefings from numerous state and local operations centers since the onset of the hurricane season. Beginning with Tropical Storm Fay, the system has been up and running for subsequent Hurricanes Hannah, Gustav, and Ike.

Based in Florida, AEN’s service provides residents with access to news, preparedness, and recovery advisories issued by the governor and other state officials by streaming live, storm-related briefings from Florida’s Division of Emergency Management in Tallahassee and the Village of Islamorada, and from operations centers in Miami-Dade, Broward, Brevard, Duval, and Putnam counties. Additionally, the service works with major Florida newspapers to provide convenient, free public access to the video streams over their Web sites.

“Emergency managers, the media, and the general public now have seen first-hand the importance of AEN’s communications system, the void it fills, and the service it provides,” said Bryan Norcross, president and chief executive officer of America’s Emergency Network. “Utilizing the HughesNet satellite backbone ensures that our system remains functional even when terrestrial phone lines, cable, and mobile service are knocked out.”

“During a disaster, timely communications are of the essence,” said Mike Cook, senior vice president at Hughes. “In particular after a regional disaster, many smaller cities, counties, and towns cannot get critical messages out to their residents. Through AEN and HughesNet, local governments are now able to rapidly disseminate pertinent information to the community, providing them with critical, often life-saving real-time updates.”

AEN’s system is able to transmit on-demand, up to three simultaneous, video streams originating from any location in Florida, either in high-resolution for television outlets or medium-resolution for broad public distribution. This high performance, video-on-demand capability is enabled by SPACEWAY^TM3, the world’s first commercial satellite with on-board switching and routing. Optimized for high-speed processing of large data volumes, SPACEWAY^TM3 began operation in the US serving HughesNet customers in April of 2008.

About America’s Emergency Network

America’s Emergency Network was designed by Bryan Norcross, formerly the CBS network hurricane analyst, and Max Mayfield, the former Director of the National Hurricane Center. AEN’s goal is to be sure that every emergency manager, whether from a large county or a small town, has an outlet to reach the public, the media, and other government officials. The satellite-based AEN system is designed to continue to work after a disaster when the power lines, phone lines, cell phone towers, and terrestrial internet systems are knocked out.

About Hughes Network Systems

Hughes Network Systems, LLC (HUGHES) is the global leader in providing broadband satellite networks and services for large enterprises, governments, small businesses, and consumers. HughesNet® encompasses all broadband solutions and managed services from Hughes, bridging the best of satellite and terrestrial technologies. Its broadband satellite products are based on global standards approved by the TIA, ETSI and ITU standards organizations, including IPoS, RSM-A, and GMR-1. To date, Hughes has shipped more than 1.5 million systems to customers in over 100 countries.

Headquartered outside Washington, D.C., in Germantown, Maryland, USA, Hughes maintains sales and support offices worldwide. Hughes is a wholly owned subsidiary of Hughes Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: HUGH). For additional information, please visit www.hughes.com.
###

©2008 Hughes Network Systems, LLC. Hughes, HughesNet, and SPACEWAY are trademarks of Hughes Network Systems, LLC.

Global-MIX, the backbone of Internet broadcast, will operate as an invisible partner to AEN providing them with off-continent engineering backup and best practice consultancy.

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Featured Topics in this month’s newsletter:

- AEN STREAMS LIVE BRIEFINGS DURING FAY, GUSTAV, HANNA, AND IKE TO THE PUBLIC

- AEN JOINS READY COMMUNITIES PARTNERSHIP

- FARNHAM JOINS AEN AS VICE PRESIDENT OF SALES AND MARKETING

- COLLEGE CAMPUSES RUSH TO UPGRADE ALERT SYSTEMS

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• AEN conducts first real-storm operation
• Major Florida newspapers carry AEN streams
• State and local officials counsel Floridians through AEN
• State official: “A significant advantage we never had before”

MIAMI, Fla. – August 25, 2008 – America’s Emergency Network last week successfully streamed real-time news briefings from numerous state and local operations centers, opening its still-in-development system in urgent response to Tropical Storm Fay’s assault on Florida.

For the first time, Floridians and others had direct, easy, and full access to news updates and to preparedness and recovery advisories from Florida’s governor and other state officials. Many Floridians also had full access to crucial updates from local emergency management officials.

AEN’s Internet and satellite-based system remains in beta test mode as it is being deployed throughout Florida, and soon the nation, but it was opened as a public service during Fay’s slow and disastrous passage through the state, according to Bryan Norcross, president and chief executive officer of America’s Emergency Network.

“Emergency managers, the media and the general public now have seen, first hand and dramatically, the importance of AEN’s communications system, the void it fills and the service it provides,” Norcross said.

“Though we will remain in test mode through the hurricane season, we are growing rapidly and we stand ready to assist the emergency management community – and the people served by it – in any way we can,” Norcross said.

As the storm stretched through the entire state, AEN streamed live news conferences and briefings from Florida’s Division of Emergency Management in Tallahassee, from the Village of Islamorada and from operations centers in Broward, Brevard, Duval and Putnam counties.

Some of Florida’s largest newspapers, including The Miami Herald, The South Florida SunSentinel, the Florida Times-Union in Jacksonville and the News-Press in Fort Myers, provided convenient, free public access to the streams over their websites.

Craig Fugate, director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management, said he found significant public-service value in AEN’s capabilities.

“This provides us with a whole different avenue to get the information out to the public,” Fugate said. “The networks might cover the governor, but not the entire briefing. This gives us an opportunity to get the whole briefing out to the public. That’s a significant advantage we never had before.”

Fay was responsible for at least 11 deaths in Florida. Its torrential rain – up to 25 inches in some places – produced disastrous flooding. And the peak of the hurricane season is just arriving.

“A lot of us are certainly suffering from Fay fatigue but we’ve got to stay focused,” Gov. Charlie Crist told Floridians during a briefing carried by AEN.

For further information, contact:

Bryan Norcross
AEN President & CEO
305-722-4800

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Featured Topics in this month’s newsletter:

- AEN ACHIEVES A MAJOR PRESENCE IN SOUTH FLORIDA

- AEN BROADCASTS FLORIDA TERROR/PANDEMIC DRILL

- AEN ALERTS ALREADY CONFORM TO FEDERAL PROTOCOL

- NEW EMERGENCY MANAGERS IN PLACE

- AEN TO PRESENT AT AT&T MOBILITY CONFERENCE

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Miami, FL. – August 7, 2008 – America’s Emergency Network, Inc. (AEN), a wholly owned subsidiary of Brampton Crest International, Inc. (OTCBB: BRCI), today announced that it has installed its system in Broward County – Florida’s second most populous county.

The rapidly growing AEN system soon will serve Broward’s 1.8 million residents with easily accessible emergency management messages, advisories and other communications. Miami-Dade, with 2.4 million residents, and other Florida counties are expected to follow soon.

In addition, South Florida’s two largest newspapers – The Miami Herald and the South Florida Sun-Sentinel – are joining AEN’s alert distribution network.

“We’re thrilled that emergency managers, other officials in South Florida, and major elements of the media appreciate the value of our network and have decided to partner with us,” said Bryan Norcross, AEN’s president and chief executive officer. “This certainly provides further validation of our system, and we look forward to serving many more people in many more places in the near future.”

Chuck Lanza, Broward’s emergency management director, said he was pleased that AEN selected Broward County as an additional test bed for its system.

“It’s in beta test mode and we saw how well it worked during previous tests at the state level,” Lanza said. “It has a lot of potential for getting information out to the public, both when we have good Internet connections and when we have problems that only satellite transmission can resolve. This will give us two ways to reach and help the public.”

Broward’s emergency updates, news conferences and other information will be broadcast over AEN’s satellite-based network and will be directly available to affected residents – and anyone with an Internet connection – through the websites of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel and The Miami Herald.

In the future, these alerts and updates also will be sent directly to cell phones, PDAs and other mobile devices.

The system also has been installed in several other counties and at the state’s Division of Emergency Management.

“We are growing at a very swift rate and we look forward to serving many more communities in the near future,” Norcross said. “Stay tuned for additional announcements.”

About AEN:

America’s Emergency Network was designed by Bryan Norcross, former hurricane analyst for the CBS network, and Max Mayfield, the former Director of the National Hurricane Center. AEN’s goal is to be sure that every emergency manager, whether from a large county or a small town, has an outlet to reach the public the media, and other government officials. The satellite-based AEN system is designed to continue to work after a disaster when the power lines, phone lines, cell phone towers, and terrestrial internet systems are knocked out. Note: All emergency messages transmitted through the AEN system fully conform to CAP, the FEMA-mandated national protocol for creating and sending emergency messages.

About Brampton Crest:

Brampton Crest International, Inc. is a publicly traded company which recently acquired America’s Emergency Network, LLC (http://emergency.info). Brampton also owns and operates a wholly owned finance subsidiary.

Certain statements in this press release that are not historical facts are “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements may be identified by the use of words such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “expect,” “future,” “may,” “will,” “would,” “should,” “plan,” “projected,” “intend,” and similar expressions. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Brampton Crest International, Inc. (the Company) to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. The Company’s future operating results are dependent upon many factors, including but not limited to the Company’s ability to: (i) obtain sufficient capital or a strategic business arrangement to fund its expansion plans; (ii) build the management and human resources and infrastructure necessary to support the growth of its business; (iii) competitive factors and developments beyond the Company’s control; and (iv) other risk factors discussed in the Company’s periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which are available for review at www.sec.gov under “Search for Company Filings.”

Contact:

For further information:

Bryan Norcross

President & CEO

AEN

(305) 722-4800

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Also included in this article:

- America’s Emergency Network, Inc. (AEN), a wholly owned subsidiary of Brampton Crest International, Inc., announced that it has entered into an agreement with HNS under which HNS will provide the broadband satellite backbone of AEN’s pioneering satellite-video-Internet emergency communications network using HughesNet service, powered by our SPACEWAY(TM) 3 satellite system.

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Note: All emergency messages generated within the AEN system conform to CAP.

In the span of a month the new system called the Citizen Communication Center, or C3, has signed up over 500 families, allowing the borough to send custom emergency messages - ranging from road closures, power outages, floodings, school closings, and even national terror alerts.

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Featured Topics in this month’s newsletter:

- AEN SIGNS PACT WITH HUGHES NETWORK SYSTEMS

- AEN’S NORCROSS SETS ASIDE TV DUTIES

- AMERICA’S EMERGENCY NETWORK’S CHRIS BENNETT TALKS WITH NOKIA’S BLOGMEISTERS

- POTENTIAL OF FM AVAILABILITY ON CELL PHONE

- FEMA AGREES TO MANAGE MOBILE PHONE ALERT SYSTEM

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Bryan Norcross is Signing Off After 25 Years

Hurricane Legend Norcross Bids Goodbye to Coverage

Bryan Norcross Steps Down

Bryan Norcross Calls it Quits as CBS4 Weather Forecaster

Bryan Norcross leaves WFOR

EASTERNUS - Norcross Discussion Board

Bryan Norcross Steps Down…. Leaves Channel 4

Bryan Norcross Leaving CBS4 for a New Gig

Hurricane Hero Blows Out of Miami Station

Hurricane Harbor - Bryan Norcross

AEN, a pioneering video-Internet-emergency communications network, is being created by Norcross and Max Mayfield, former director of the National Hurricane Center, to serve all Floridians and many others around the nation when local or regional disasters strike.

When fully deployed, AEN will provide emergency managers, at the state level or from a large county, major city or small town, with an outlet to reach the public, the media and colleagues in other government offices. The satellite-based AEN system is designed to work after a disaster when power lines, phone lines, cell phone towers and terrestrial Internet systems are rendered inoperative.

“Lives can be saved with AEN’s system, and emergency managers are asking us to deploy it as quickly as possible,” said Norcross, AEN’s president and chief executive officer. “We are growing so rapidly that I decided I had no choice but to surrender my duties at WFOR.

“I not saying that I will never do television again, but the development of AEN is crucially important and may turn out to be the most important thing that Max and I ever have done professionally,” Norcross said.

Norcross will step away from his television duties – including his consultant’s role at the CBS network – when his contract expires at the end of this month.

For nearly 20 years, Norcross guided South Floridians through life-threatening storms, most notably Hurricane Andrew in August 1992. His 23-hour marathon of coverage during that Category 5 hurricane, at times broadcasting from a darkened bunker, earned him the admiration of the entire region and won him national recognition and a regional Emmy Award.

“Bryan’s widely respected as one of this country’s leading hurricane experts and he will always have the gratitude and admiration of this community for his efforts during Hurricane Andrew,” Shaun McDonald, WFOR’s president and general manager, said in a statement posted on the station’s website.

Norcross’ broadcasting career began in 1968 in Melbourne, Fla., and carried him to Tallahassee, Atlanta, Denver, Louisville and San Francisco before he arrived in Miami 1983, working at WPLG and WTVJ before joining WFOR in 1996. In 2006, he gave up his day-to-day weather forecasting duties so he could concentrate on hurricanes and emergency communications.

Norcross, Mayfield and their team formed AEN in 2007 to fill a void in the nation’s emergency communications system, and it has been growing rapidly.

Earlier this month, during a three-day statewide practice exercise in response to a mock disaster called Hurricane Herb, AEN streamed live media events and a situation report from the Florida Division of Emergency Management operations center in Tallahassee to emergency management officials in counties and municipalities around the state.

AEN also beamed local briefings and media events from Duval County (Jacksonville), Putnam County and Islamorada back to state officials in the capital.

Hundreds of Internet hits from Tallahassee and around the state were recorded by the AEN network as managers in emergency centers and staffers in the field accessed real-time events previously unavailable to them.

The test was virtually flawless and the response from state and local officials was gratifying.

“The system itself is a masterpiece of simplicity and technology,” said William Jayson Southworth, emergency management senior planner for Putnam County.

Shortly after the test, AEN and the state’s Division of Emergency Management, widely recognized as a national leader, signed a Memorandum of Understanding that will provide Florida emergency managers with access to AEN’s system.

For further information:

Bryan Norcross
AEN President & CEO
305-722-4800

MIAMI, Fla. – June 18, 2008 – Emergency managers in Tallahassee and at local levels are issuing statements of support, appreciation and anticipation in the wake of a successful test of America’s Emergency Network’s emergency communications system.

Many are declaring themselves eager to deploy the system for the benefit of support personnel in the field and citizens in homes and offices.

“It couldn’t be easier to use, in my opinion, and can be explained easily to individuals that may not be as tech-savvy as others,” said William Jayson Southworth, emergency management senior planner for Putnam County (Fla.).

“I feel that we – the users – have only begun to scratch the surface of what this system, when rolled out to all counties, would allow us to do to help protect our residents,” Southworth said. “We look forward to its continued use.”

Those and other affirmative comments flowed into the Florida Division of Emergency Management upon completion of the state’s three-day Annual Hurricane Exercise in early June 2008 – a test that featured the first real-time deployment of AEN’s satellite and Internet-based video streaming capabilities.

America’s Emergency Network was designed by Bryan Norcross, the CBS network hurricane analyst, and Max Mayfield, former director of the National Hurricane Center. When fully deployed, it will provide every emergency manager, whether from a large county or a small town, with an outlet to reach the public, the media and colleagues in other government offices. The satellite-based AEN system is designed to continue to work after a disaster when power lines, phone lines, cell phone towers and terrestrial Internet systems are rendered inoperative.

During the three-day statewide practice exercise in response to a mock disaster called Hurricane Herb, AEN streamed live media events and situation reports from the Florida Division of Emergency Management operations center in Tallahassee to emergency management officials in counties and municipalities around the state. AEN also beamed local briefings and media events from Duval County (Jacksonville), Putnam County and Islamorada back to state officials in the capital.

Hundreds of Internet hits from Tallahassee and around the state were recorded by the AEN network as managers in emergency centers and staffers in the field accessed the real-time events previously unavailable to them.

The greatest benefit to the State lies in the ability to receive and monitor local briefings and media events from municipal and county agencies that would not always gain media coverage beyond their local market, if available at all…,” according to an official state review of AEN’s performance. “This resource can become more viable to the State as local entities come on line.”

The entire report is available here:
www.emergency.info/aen-hurricane-exercise-061608.pdf

“This gives us a chance to stretch our system and find new and better ways to do things,” Craig Fugate, Florida’s director of emergency management, said of AEN. “The more information we have in real time, the better our response can be.”

Local officials also praised AEN’s performance. Here are some of their comments from the Florida report:

• “I just wanted to thank you for allowing Duval County to participate in the exercise demonstration of the AEN Service…. It is significantly simpler in comparison to our existing web conference devices. I can see the future value of this service.”
  - Lorin L. Mock, division chief/emergency manager, City of Jacksonville/Duval County

• “The system itself is a masterpiece of simplicity and technology. The system is in place and it does not interfere with any of our daily duties running about the building, it is compact and very easy to move if need be… The technology that it uses is at the tip of the spear.”
  - William Jayson Southworth, emergency management senior planner, Putnam Couny

• “The AEN system test was a great success on our end and is an enormous assist to our municipality. During the test, we had our village manager and mayor present and they were very impressed and excited about the new capabilities…. We look forward to expanding our participation and actual operational deployment of the system when necessary!”
  - William A. Wagner, III, CEM, fire chief, Islamorada Fire Rescue

• “Stream from Putnam was perfect from where I was. No issues with delays or picture and sound not synchronized.”
  - Adam Faircloth, emergency management director, Baker County

• “The streaming video and audio was smooth and picture quality was good.”
  - Keith Holman, director of emergency management, Martin County

• “I watched the state EOC on two occasions and Islamorada on one occasion. I was impressed with the ease of my getting access to the information and can certainly see an advantage to having such a system in place….Most of us have issues with our IT folks on bandwidth and this would solve that problem. The concept would also be a great way to share information and to provide adequate information for decisions by all sorts of organizations.”
  - Bob Lay, director of emergency management, Brevard County

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The system, called America’s Emergency Network, is being built to give the media, local residents, and others direct access to information released by state and local emergency operations centers.”

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“Brampton Crest International, a small, public company, said it has agreed to buy an emergency communications system being developed by former National Hurricane Center Director Max Mayfield and broadcaster Bryan Norcross.”

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“It doesn’t matter,” said Max Mayfield, former director of the National Hurricane Center, told a group of emergency workers today. “We’ve got to be prepared.”

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