July 14, 2005

Selected to Provide Emergency Mgmt. Software for Wisconsin

Convergence Communications has been selected as the vendor to provide Emergency Management software for the State of Wisconsin Emergency Management, Department of Military Affairs. Convergence was selected on June 14, 2005 as the result of a competitive procurement.

Convergence will provide Wisconsin their E-SponderSM solution, the company's proprietary collaboration and communications portal, based on Microsoft Office Professional Enterprise Edition 2003 Technologies. The E-Sponder solution will be utilized by Wisconsin Emergency Management and made available to all local and county offices for use in planning and managing response to All Hazards incidents as well as to facilitate information sharing. Emergency managers across the state will be able to rapidly modify the system to allow them to manage one or more incidents concurrently. The solution will have additional components for resource tracking and task completion tracking, position checklists, business continuity monitoring, public information and reporting, and messaging and communications. In addition, Convergence will be partnering with ESRI for the Geographic Information Systems (GIS) component of the project. The software is slated to be installed and functional by November of 2005.

"Wisconsin's decision to use the E-Sponder solution was based on the ability to customize the solution to fit the needs of Wisconsin Emergency Management as well as the flexibility of the system to allow for use by both state and local agencies," says Robert Wolf, President/CEO of Convergence Communications. "We are eager to share E-Sponder's functionality and scalability with the state of Wisconsin."

The Division of Wisconsin Emergency Management coordinates with state and federal agencies, private sector partners, and volunteer organizations. The Division supports 72 counties and 1,850 local jurisdictions. The Division of Wisconsin Emergency Management coordinates emergency management services to the states citizens, now totaling approximately 5.5 million people.