New Software Partner Aiding US Anti-Terror Efforts

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A small Irish software firm, Decisions For Heroes, or D4H, has become central to anti-terror efforts by US authorities. The company’s software has been adopted globally by emergency teams reacting to accidents or tragedies. The company’s latest client is the US State of Massachusetts, where the National Guard has taken the firm’s technology to form part of its procedure in the event of a terror attack. The software was used in a major terror simulation exercise this month with 700 US first responders involved.

The company, founded by coast guard volunteer, Robin Blandford, has risen to provide thousands of response teams worldwide with similar emergency response software.

“We record over 15 million response hours per year now and are deployed in 16 countries. Our clients include industrial facilities, public safety teams and corporates,” Blandford told Independent.ie. The company’s other big contracts include deals with oil and gas companies and the US Department of Defence. The software provides multi-media event logs, GIS mapping, alerts, role assignments, organisation charts, and sets of planning tools for teams that need to co-ordinate in emergency situations.

“When the scale of this Massachusetts terrorist attack exercise was determined, the incident command staff and support team at this exercise were faced with high volumes of information,” said D4H executive Robert Charles. “We provide up-to-date, structured and reliable information to both heighten their situational awareness and contribute towards their incident action plan.”