DISSEMINATION TECHNOLOGY CONFERENCE The Department of Commerce(DOC)/National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)/National Weather Service (NWS) will host a Dissemination Technology Conference in Washington D.C. from April 15-18, 1997. The Conference will take place at the Department of Commerce, Constitution Avenue and 14th Street, Washington, D.C. In order to establish a meaningful dialog with those in the telecommunications industry who can provide this technology, the Dissemination Technology Conference shall be a synergistic exchange of information that will provide attendees with insight into NWS current operations and future plans for information dissemination and provide information to the Government that will assist NOAA in competitively procuring services in 1998 that cost effectively meet NWS and user dissemination requirements. The goal is to provide a non-proprietary, standard, open-architecture source of information that can be easily received and processed with inexpensive off-the-shelf technology. The NWS currently operates the NOAA Weather Radio (NWR) and NOAA Weather Wire Service (NWWS) for the purpose of disseminating weather and hazard information to the public that is vital to the protection of life and property. NWR is a local VHF/FM radio broadcast system which provides information directly to the public. The NWWS is a contractor-operated, satellite based dissemination system intended to provide critical information vital to the safety and welfare of the public to local emergency managers and mass news disseminators, and thus to the public, in the most timely manner possible. The NWWS currently utilizes C-band satellite technology that makes any of over 1000 NWS products (text, with graphics and satellite imagery currently being added) available to more than 1400 customers anywhere in the United States and possessions within five seconds of transmission with a demonstrated operational availability in excess of 0.9998. It is the intent of the NWS to continue to operate these systems and, in partnership with the private sector, seek means to make the information delivered by them to an end user more useful, more widely available, and less costly without sacrificing the current levels of timeliness, reliability, and availability. The NWS is interested in methods that utilize the existing infrastructure to deliver NWS information to the end user with little or no recurring cost. To this end, the NWS seeks information and expressions of interest from vendors who can (1) provide a primary telecommunications network for the direct delivery of NWS products from NWS offices and centers located in the continental U.S., Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico to customers in those areas with service equal to or better than the existing NWWS and NWR systems at a lesser cost, (2) provide secondary, multi-layered dissemination networks that provide additional, different levels of service at lower cost, (3)provide auxiliary delivery services beyond NWWS nodes via a variety of links (telephone, radio, cable TV, pagers, satellite TV etc.), (4) provide hardware and software devices and services necessary to utilize the basic NWS data stream to create interactive displays and alarm mechanisms that directly meet the needs of individuals and groups especially at risk from reported hazardous events, and (5) make innovative, value-added and technical enhancements (hardware and software) available that will allow end users access to the products or additional services in a manner that best fits their individual needs. The Government is interested in directly disseminating this information, utilizing the most cost effect technologies available. The information is vital to public safety and welfare, and is currently being provided by the NWS through NWWS, NWR, and other systems such as audio, text, graphics, and imagery products; A brochure describing the Dissemination Conference can be obtained by calling Ann Radding at (301) 713-1724 ext. 154, however, be advised that the most current information, including on-line registration capability, is available on the Internet at: http://www.nws.noaa.gov/conferences/dtc There is no charge for attending this Conference.

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