Disaster Planning

Employees of the Harris Corporation, an international communications and information technology company headquartered in Melbourne, Florida, have been providing emergency support during the past three months to ensure the integrity of the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) telecommunications network in the face of four hurricanes and a severe tropical storm.

 

Harris is the prime contractor and system architect for the FAA Federal Telecommunications Infrastructure (FTI) program. The network ensures the efficient, secure and reliable transmission of voice, data, radar, weather and other information critical to the operation of the National Airspace System.

 

During hurricanes Dolly, Gustav, Hanna and Ike this past summer, Harris worked with the FAA to deploy mobile satellite communication systems that provided on-demand communication capabilities incase damage to the commercial telecommunications infrastructure air traffic control facilities would normally use.

 

Named because of its portability, the “Fly Away” is at present operating on Galveston Island, which was hit by Hurricane Ike. The system was delivered, set up and operational within 24 hours of the FAA’s request.

 

"The Harris FTI team anticipated the communications needs of the FAA customer during this very busy 2008 hurricane season and minimized impacts to the traveling public," said John O'Sullivan, vice president of FAA programs for Harris Civil Programs. "Being responsible for the continuous operation and management of the FAA's nationwide network is something we take very seriously at Harris and our FTI team is prepared to provide this kind of quick-react support throughout the storm season."

 

The FTI Primary Network Operations and Control Center (PNOCC) monitor and manage FAA air traffic control operations nationwide. When Tropical Storm Fay hit in August, Harris employees worked double shifts and stayed at the control ensuring the network stayed up and running during the very slow-moving storm.

 

The Harris Civil Programs for businesses provides precise high-speed communications and information networks for U.S. federal government agencies, including the FAA, Census Bureau, National Oceanic (News - Alert) and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Homeland Security, and the Government Printing Office.