GRT Finds Success in Rapid, Secure, Critical Data

By Faith Swymer
The Union Leader
Monday, September 17, 2007

Portsmouth – Something became clear to Michael Gray as he detailed information -- on paper -- about 20,000 refugees crossing a bridge in Macedonia in 1999.

Gray, a State Department employee in the war-torn region, was using the government's traditional means of communication -- paper and pencil -- and realized that delivery of field information desperately needed to adapt to the digital age, so that information about the number of refugees, their condition and their needs could reach caregivers and rescue personnel right away, to expedite supplies and relief.

He knew that the data he was gathering might sit for weeks or months in boxes before key decision-makers could act.

"Honestly - it was never an 'a-ha!' great business idea," said Gray, CEO of Global Relief Technologies, a company he founded in 2003 after serving as a naval officer and government employee to help streamline field worker communications in disaster relief areas such as Afghanistan and post-Katrina Louisiana.

"It was more like, 'We need to fix a serious problem' that our humanitarian or reconstruction workers were facing in the field."

So GRT did just that, bringing specialized Personal Digital Assistant devices to field workers and streamlining systems that formerly relied on paper and pencils.

By partnering with giant government-contractor Raytheon Co., and with the support of lawmakers in Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts, Gray has been able to bring PDAs to civilian and military disaster relief workers, folks who normally are "extremely isolated" without crucial information to speed along the effort.

Archaism

"You were a disappointment of sorts," said Gray of his experience as the sole American representative standing on that bridge in Macedonia, trying to deal with a populace disoriented and displaced in the regional uprisings around Bosnia and Croatia in the late 1990s.

"There stood the United States of America, a representative of the U.S. government, with his pencil and paper," Gray said.

Despite the obvious need for up-to-the-minute communication in the middle of chaotic, disastrous situations, Gray said the government originally was not comfortable updating their aged system.

"The problem was really the most basic lack of communication capabilities and the ability to send accurate data," he said. "We (the U.S. government) threw a tremendous amount of money, materials and resources at the problem "¦ a colossal waste."

Global Relief Technologies filled the void, Gray said, with its Rapid Data Management System software, Virtual Network Operations Center and numerous other services and products that fueled the efficacy of those PDAs and won the attention of major government and disaster and relief organizations -- including a newly sealed but not yet announced deal with the American Red Cross.

"This is the first time the Red Cross (will employ) handheld communication systems," said Gray. "It's all electronic, it's all immediate." PDA systems can upload information seamlessly onto Web-based computer systems so workers at relief centers can accurately assess what is needed in the field.

Details of some GRT government contracts are kept under wraps, but the Red Cross contract comes after:

  • GRT deployed PDAs to the Marine Corps in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana and in preparation for Hurricane Rita in Houston.
  • The company joined up with Raytheon's ATHENA program three years ago to help transmit data in projects aiming to secure the country's ports and borders.
  • GRT last year received a multimillion-dollar contract from the Department of Defense to monitor Avian flu outbreaks in Asia.
  • The company received another contract last year to join Raytheon on its Rapid Aerostat Initial Deployment program to protect U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Bringing it home

GRT employee Ian LeJeune and his family are personally familiar with the need for accurate communication from the field.

LeJeune, the company's assistant director of network operations, suffered burn injuries in his lower extremities while serving his third tour of duty in Iraq as a Marine in 2005.

"When I got hurt, the information that got relayed to my wife was the exact opposite" of what had actually happened, said LeJeune. His wife was told he suffered burns from the waist up after a rocket hit his barracks in Iraq.

After a 1/2-year recuperation from his injuries, he joined GRT in 2006 after the company placed an ad on "Marines for Life," a networking Web site for Marines transitioning to civilian life, as well as a support network for those who are injured.

LeJeune found GRT through that ad.

LeJeune's new realm, the network operation center, now allows him to filter through different data gathered by field workers all over the world, maneuvering on the company's secure Web-based network, and the data is then made available to agency, government and company decision makers to contemplate how those agencies need to act on demand or what changes in information they face.

To date, the company has purchased, programmed and passed on to clients more than 125 of the handheld data transmitters, and that number will increase once the Red Cross gets its shipment. The number also increases during times when GRT is called upon in a pinch to help an organization dealing with a crisis, such as when hurricanes hit.

The deal with the American Red Cross will soon see eight Red Cross emergency teams -- who deal with various types of relief efforts across the country -- equipped with GRT's Rapid Data Management System.

"Once that data is locked in, its concrete," Gray said of the 4,000 assessments collected within two weeks, in one recent example.

"You're truly empowering the person in the field."

That empowerment in providing quick, accurate information is the sole mission of GRT as it prepares for a future that could include branching out into the private sector with similar technical applications.

"That's what we're all about, making sure people don't have to duct-tape technology," said Gray. Or use pencils and paper in the digital age.