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Network Ablaze With Instant Communication By Mona R. Litt Because they battle the smoke and flames of fires, firefighters shouldn't have to worry about how details of the incident will be stored or how to gain access to their department's records. The Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) has met this burning issue head-on with its NetWare and NT network. With it, LAFD can access information from any incident report on file and other documents at their firehouses. Soon they will be able to communicate with other personnel via laptops at the scene and file incident reports on their way back to the station. "We built our network to centralize all applications and databases on servers, decrease maintenance, increase application reliability and free firefighters from administrative tasks and get them back out into the field," explains Ron Corona, a senior systems analyst II for LAFD. The network lets firefighters and other LAFD employees file vital data in secure databases stored on Hewlett-Packard Co.'s NetServer LS series servers. Databases and applications are centralized on servers accessed by 102 city fire stations. The centralized network design alleviates lengthy downtime during system maintenance--changes take place without interrupting the user. For Internet access, the LAFD uses the city's Unix host, which has a T1 connection to the Internet. "This method eliminates the need for various service providers and cuts costs drastically," Corona says. The LAFD takes advantage of the city's existing connection and its firewalls. Citrix Systems ' WinFrame software provide s remote users access to Windows applications run centrally. "We use a server-farm approach since the network covers 464 square miles. WinFrame provides the connectivity to help us maintain a dependable network," Corona says. By the end of the month, Corona will have installed Novell's System Fault Tolerance Level III for fault tolerance among the NetWare servers. The Novell SNA Gateway makes mainframe applications available to employees using PCs in the accounting, hazardous materials, supply and maintenance departments, according to Corona. Brush, a custom application, lets fire department inspectors track which organizations are complying with regulations, and the Integrated Inspection System ensures that building managers and residents follow the proper occupancy regulations. What does the future hold for this growing network? Corona says he plans to develop custom applications with Delphi, Oracle and Microsoft Visual Basic. November will bring a department-wide intranet housing online manuals about
new products and methods and a data storage repository. Through this intranet, field firefighters can get instant feedback from medical facilities and analyze methods and quality of service for training and improvement purposes, Corona says.
Updated September 8, 1997  |
