Cisco Software Links Emergency Workers

Cisco Systems Inc., the world’s largest maker of computer-networking equipment, Monday introduced software designed to aid communications among emergency workers responding to disasters.

The software lets people using two-way radios, mobile phones, wired phones and various other devices communicate with one another, San Jose-based Cisco said.

Cisco rolled out the software almost two months after Hurricane Katrina ravaged the Gulf Coast and paralyzed communications for emergency workers and residents caught in the storm.

Firefighters, police and other emergency workers typically use two-way radios that are tuned to different frequencies, so the workers can’t talk to people outside their networks, Cisco said.

“With 9/11 and especially Katrina, one of the lessons there was communications, communications, communications,” said Gordon Bruce, chief information officer for the city of Honolulu, which is testing Cisco’s system, at a demonstration of the software in New York. “This system allows us video, data and voice integration across the board.”

In addition to Honolulu, the port of Elizabeth, N.J., and an airport in the Netherlands are testing the software, which can also disseminate video and data to city and state officials.

Cisco’s software uses Internet protocol technology to link various devices and bypass the problem of different radio frequencies. It requires no new equipment, the company said.

Cisco did not say what it would charge for the software.