Alltel Offers App To Identify Chemical, Biological ThreatsAlltel Offers App To Identify Chemical, Biological Threats

Alltel Wireless on Tuesday rolled out an application that will help law enforcement and public safety agents identify potential chemical and biological threats.

HazMasterG3, an application supplied by emergency and terrorism response mobile technology maker Alluviam, offers information on over 118,000 chemical, biological, and radiological agents, trade names, and explosives. The patent-pending application has access to a physical signature library of over 780,000 attributes to identify chemical agents in less than three seconds.

Alltel, which provides cellular services to 12 million wireless subscribers in the United States, has made HazMasterG3 available to law enforcement, hazardous materials agents, bomb squads, paramedics, and homeland security officers, helping them assess potential threats and respond to emergency situations.

"When used in conjunction with supported survey equipment, HazMasterG3 is the only decision-support system that can identify an extremely broad range of radioactive isotopes," said Chris Miguel, CEO of Alluviam, in a statement.

HazMasterG3 has been certified by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security as an approved product, particularly as a qualified anti-terrorism technology. The application is offered by Alltel on select mobile phone models.

Mobile technology is popular with public safety officials for first response operations, but it's also an effective way for civilians to deal with other emergencies such as natural disasters.

In a related announcement, Qipit on Tuesday began offering a free online service that turns handwritten or printed documents into digital copies. Qipit transforms photos of documents such as mortgage payments and medical records taken with a camera phone into scan-quality copies that people can securely store and conveniently share as digital documents. According to the company, the service strives to spare victims of natural disasters additional problems.