A Word From CEO, Dr. Thomas P. "Pat" Hardeman, PhD

Warning Systems Inc. was incorporated in 1991 to market tone alert radio receivers as part of emergency notification systems for natural and man-made disasters. Today, WSI's Research and Development Center has refined a family of VHF and UFH tone alert radio systems which are compatible with many existing radio transmission systems.

WSI was awarded the United States' first Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program (CSEPP) contract, supplying more than 10,000 VHF indoor warning receivers to the Madison County, Kentucky CSEPP site for placement around the Blue Grass Army Depot in Richmond, Kentucky. The system - including a subsequent order for another 8,800 radios - is installed and serving the citizens of Madison County.

In 1998 and 1999, WSI won similar contracts from the State of Alabama to provide 50,000 UHF tone alert radios to the Alabama CSEPP site. From this origin in fulfilling CSEPP contracts, WSI has gained other government, school and industrial customers.

The field-proven OnAlert® message system provides a secure, reliable and effective infrastructure for transmitting warning alerts and messages - targeting specific receivers or predefined groups and geographic zones. It even addresses the needs of citizens who have hearing and vision impairments - alerting and notifying them via optional strobe light, vibrator device, and text display. Read more about these convenient and life-saving accessories here.

In recent years, WSI has expanded its core competency to include design and production of systems that activate legacy warning modalities such as outdoor sirens, pagers, two-tone radios, and the Emergency Alert System (EAS). These 21st Century activation systems web-enable RF systems and allow them to be integrated using the Common Alerting Protocol (CAP). The ability to web and CAP enable existing warning devices allows for truly comprehensive alert and warning capabilities without starting from scratch.

WSI was chosen to participate in the first pilot phase of FEMA’s Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS) for CAP based EAS activation, and is under contract to Sandia National Labs to provide EAS and RF activation for phase two of the Web Alert & Relay Network (WARN) pilot portion of IPAWS. We are pleased to be participating in these valuable pilots with the mission of enhancing emergency notifications to the public to save lives and protect property.

Interoperability and promoting standards for emergency communications is very important to WSI. Consequently the company is active in several important emergency management and technical associations. We are also proud to have been recognized for contributions to emergency management, interoperability, and community service. WSI regularly participates in joint technology demonstrations utilizing CAP to enable interoperable alert and warning solutions.

Our number one priority is to provide state of the art emergency communications systems to assist Emergency Managers in saving lives. I invite you to contact our marketing personnel who can answer your questions and discuss the right tone alert radio or system to satisfy your specific needs.

Thomas "Pat" Hardeman, Ph.D.
CEO and President

Awards and Recognition

• US DHS S&T Command, Control, and Interoperability Division for outstanding service to the 9th Annual Technologies for Critical Incident Preparedness Conference.
• Federal CIO Council’s Semantic Interoperability Community of Practice (SICoP) Special Recognition for “Outstanding Collaboration” in “Semantic Interoperability at Work: Improving Rapid Response
• Appreciation for Support –Tennessee Emergency Management Association
• Appreciation for Support – Texas Governors Division of Emergency Management
• Alabama Senate Resolution – Outstanding Community Service

Corporate Memberships

• Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS) – Sponsor
• Emergency Interoperability Consortium (EIC)
• National Emergency Management Association (NEMA)
• International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM)
• Alabama Association of Emergency Managers (AEMA)
• Alabama Broadcasters Associations (ABA)