Intuicom Selected by the Alaska Volcano Observatory to Provide Wireless Network Connectivity 

 Intuicom's Wireless Networks to Support Real-time Volcano Monitoring in the Aleutian Islands

Boulder, CO, September 5, 2002- Intuicom, Inc.™, a leader in private wireless data networks optimized for real-time data-critical applications, announced that it has been chosen to provide wireless solutions to the Alaska Volcano Observatory (AVO). The communication network will make it possible for AVO to attain real-time data from remote volcano monitoring stations, thus providing up to the minute volcano activity.

AVO plans to augment selected analog seismic networks with modern digital instruments to monitor activity better on remote volcanoes of the Aleutian Islands. Using seismometers and GPS (Global Positioning System) instruments, AVO will collect time-critical data to forecast activity on these volcanoes. In addition to the scientific value of monitoring these volcanoes, the data is pivotal in minimizing the risk to aircraft flying the North Pacific air routes between North America and Asia. Ash erupted into the atmosphere can cause severe damage to aircraft, including engine shutdown. The information provided by AVO allows commercial transport organizations to plan accordingly and therefore operate more efficiently.

For the system to optimally operate, up-to-the second seismic and GPS data collected by the instruments needs to make its way from these remote island volcanoes back to the facilities on the mainland as fast as possible. This can be costly and challenging because the volcanoes are as far as 90 km from any settlement or power/communication infrastructure. AVO selected Intuicom's wireless network to address these challenges. Through the use of Intuicom's Communicator™ and SmartGPS Navigator™ products and networking software, bi-directional data communication from a variety of instruments on the islands to the mainland is achieved.

"This program presented us with some very challenging communication issues. We are generating a considerable amount of data in a remote and environmentally challenging environment," said Tom Murray, Scientist in Charge at AVO. "Intuicom has worked with us to provide a solution." "We are very excited to be working with AVO on this program," said Dave Mencin, CTO of Intuicom. "With the new instrumentation and our communication solutions, real-time seismic monitoring is more functional and cost effective."

About the Alaska Volcano Observatory: The Alaska Volcano Observatory (AVO) is a joint program of the United States Geological Survey (USGS), the Geophysical Institute of the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAFGI), and the State of Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys (ADGGS). AVO was formed in 1988, and uses federal, state, and university resources to monitor and study Alaska's hazardous volcanoes, to predict and record eruptive activity, and to mitigate volcanic hazards to life and property.