Super Bowl Technology: IT Solutions Work Behind the Scenes to Secure Football Game

Behind the scenes of the Super Bowl game this weekend in Tampa, securing and managing emergency operations requires a veritable all-star team of tech companies. Joining forces over football after a year’s worth of preparations for the event, the tech team members assisting the Tampa Incident Command staff include some names you know and some you might not: E-SPONDER, Microsoft, Infusion Development, and Twisted Pair Solutions. Their level of planning and use of intricately linked, cutting edge technology, makes throwing and catching an odd-shaped leather ball seem, well, like child’s play in comparison.

E-SPONDER is providing the portal through which all aspects of Super Bowl activities will be visualized and reported. Its secure, real-time collaboration tool, built on Microsoft Office SharePoint Server, will let multiple first-response agencies collaborate and communicate in real time. The customizable tool also will provide management of incident data before, during, and after the game.

Microsoft Surface will display a Microsoft Virtual Earth map of Tampa and the region, letting event managers track incidents, deploy resources, and schedule tasks in real time. Besides utilizing Surface’s multi-user, multi-touch, and interactive capabilities, managers will also be able to use it to communicate with remote devices and PCs.

Teaming up with Microsoft’s Surface technology, Infusion Development’s Falcon Eye solution will create additional application functionality to help the Incident Command staff use Surface to monitor, view, and track events and resources.

Finally, tying all the voices and messages together, Twisted Pair Solutions’ WAVE software, which leverages Microsoft Office Communications Server and integrates with E-SPONDER’s technology, will let law enforcement personnel communicate with each other and with the command center via IM, PC to PC Voice, video conferencing, and PC-to radio/walkie-talkie.