GSN_Nov-Dec_FINAL_Yumpu

Mass Notification/Disaster Response
Washington tech firm claims predictive analytics
can improve emergency response operations
WASHINGTON, Nov. 28, 2016 – As
Katrina made landfall in the hurricane
season of 2005 - emergency
managers evacuating New Orleans,
faced their biggest challenge - determining
where, when, and who would
be harmed the most.
For over a decade, NeST Group, a
metro DC based techno-conglomerate,
has systematically invested in
building decision support platforms
- that go beyond mere forensic analysis
and provide predictive intelligence
- that commanders can use
in real-time to improve tactical
emergency response
operations.
“The WWW is rich with
data feeds - social media,
internet of things (iOT),
surveillance, primary surveys,
biometrics, spatial
imagery - however, we consume
a very tiny fraction of this massive
information mine to determine
outcomes,” states Dr. Javad K Hassan,
the founding Chairman of the NeST
group. “Aggregating data hives to visualize
future intuitively, eludes all,
but a handful of sophisticated cyber
intelligence (CYBINT) outfits,” he explains.
Across the past decade, business
Dr. Javad K Hassan
decisions using public domain data
steadfastly increased - in crafting entry
and expansion plans, patterning
consumer behavior, and developing
distribution strategies. Yet in tactical
fields - like combat, search & rescue,
or counter-terrorism - its potential
still lies largely untapped.
Anoop Madhavan, the Senior Vice
President of the NeST Group explains,
“The Boston Marathon bombing
triggered the steepest adoption of
the National Incident Management
System (NIMS) across
military and emergency
response organizations in
the US.” NIMS is the presidentially
directed federal
platform to unify and coordinate
responses between
various agencies.
An incident commander
and a tactical operations
chief certified by the Homeland Security
Emergency Management Agency
on disaster operations, Mr. Madhavan
firmly believes “deterministic models
and information is key to the success
of a field commander; it enables him/
her to establish effective, efficient, and
safe priorities to all operatives contributing
to the mission’s success.”
NeST Group companies, rally on
28
technology frontiers - ranging from
fiber optics, embedded systems, signature
intel applications, and geographic
information systems. Two
group companies are rated at CMMi
level 5 - the highest award accorded
by the Carnegie Mellon University’s
Software Engineering Institute.
“Right from its capture at a sensor,”
clarifies Matt Onojafe (Director
of Government Contracting of
Opterna AM, the group’s fiber optics
arm), “we guide data through its lifecycle
as it transforms into actionable
intelligence.” Matt has successfully
led Opterna’s recent contract awards
from the US Department of State,
Army, Navy and the Defense Logistic
Agency (DLA).
Conventional analytic systems stop
with best ingress routes, effective apparatus,
and optimal HR configurations
to respond to a mission. NeST’s
high maturity predictive systems take
deterministic ability, many levels further.
It profiles - with high levels of
statistical confidence - the evacuation
route a community in a disaster aftermath
will instinctually traverse; the
defensive or offensive tactic an adversary
will adopt in combat; and even
the exact location where the target of
a search will be discovered.