London, Ontario, April 20, 2005 -- London-based Keigan Systems Inc. and researchers in SHARCNET, a high performance computing network spanning the major research institutions in SW Ontario led by The University of Western Ontario, have agreed to joint research to develop what will become the first fully webbased emergency management application of its kind in the world.
The new system, which will blend Keigan’s sophisticated mapping technology with SHARCNET’s globally-competitive high performance computing platform, will allow emergency management professionals to view and manage a natural or man-made catastrophic event as it unfolds. The new system called CLEER (Catastrophic Level Event and Emergency Response) will take approximately 18 months to complete from start to finish.
“The SHARCNET platform and its high speed capability will be the secret sauce behind this system and its successful adoption in the market” said Paul Paolatto, CEO of Keigan Systems.
“Existing emergency management systems operate too slowly to make a difference, but the combination of SHARCNET and CLEER will dramatically improve the upon the speed and
precision of catastrophic event management to the point where first responders can take decisive
action in seconds”.
Keigan’s CLEER system will be one of the first private sector applications of its kind to be
developed on the SHARCNET platform. Prior to the Keigan partnership, SHARCNET had been
focusing primarily on academic research initiatives and beta testing of pre-market computing
equipment.
“Keigan’s emergency management package is an excellent fit for SHARCNET’s cutting-edge
computational platform,” said Dr. Michael Bauer, Chair of the University of Western Ontario’s
Computer Science Department, and one of the researchers involved in the project. “We are
delighted to be playing such an important role in the development of this mission critical
technology.”
A portion of the research for the project is being funded by Communications and Information
Technology Ontario (CITO), one of the Ontario Centres of Excellence, whose role is to connect
innovative technology companies with academic researchers. In addition to Keigan’s development team and SHARCNET researchers, the project will be engaging 3-4 of Western’s graduate and undergraduate students as part of the project.
Says Dave Dietz, CITO-Waterloo’s Manager of Business Development, “This collaboration is a
perfect example of the potential for innovation and improved quality of life that results from publicprivate partnerships. CITO is proud to support this important project.”
For further information, please contact:
Paul Paolatto
President and CEO
Keigan Systems
433-0077
paolatto@keigansystems.com
--30--
About Keigan Systems (www.keigansystems.com)
Keigan Systems Inc. is a London, Ontario-based technology company that specializes in
developing sophisticated decision support mapping software and solutions for public and private
sector clients in the defense, transportation, land and water use management and education
markets. The company, which was established in 1992, boasts a client base of over 8,000
business users and researchers in 40 countries around the world.
About SHARCNET (www.sharcnet.ca):
SHARCNET is a multi-institutional High Performance Computing network that spans 11 academic
institutions in South Central Ontario. SHARCNET’s mission is to provide leading edge computational resources and services to accelerate the production of world-leading research results. SHARCNET is lead by the University of Western Ontario, and includes the Universities of Guelph, McMaster, Wilfrid Laurier, Windsor, York, Brock, Waterloo and Ontario Institute of Technology, and colleges Fanshawe and Sheridan. The network also includes affiliations with the Robarts Research Institute, Perimeter Institute, and Fields Institute.
Its private sector partners include Hewlett Packard, Platform Computing, Bell Canada, Nortel Networks, Quadrics Ltd, and the Optical Regional Advanced Network of Ontario (ORANO). SHARCNET supports some of Canada’s preeminent researchers (over 200 research groups.) SHARCNET is generously supported by the Canada Foundation for Innovation and the Ontario government as well as by its institutional members and industrial partners.
