By Joyce Hensley

Staff writer

HERMISTON Fred Ziari, who has attained nationwide acclaim for the development of his EZ Wireless Company, will be featured in Newsweek magazine this week.

“We developed the largest broadband wireless network in the nation. It is a very fast Internet connection,” said Ziari, president of the company.

He says clear signals are received throughout the area on either a hand-held computer or a laptop.

The network was developed through a contract with Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program (CSEPP) for broadband wireless Internet communication to aid in emergency management. Ziari will soon offer the system to businesses and the general public.

Requests and inquiries have come into Hermiston for Ziari’s wireless service from throughout the world.

“We have been getting a tremendous amount of attention from places like London, Louisiana, Portland,” he said. “They have been calling us about our system. There is a lot of interest in what we have done.”

EZ Wireless has been rapidly expanding the business to meet the demands outside of this area.

“We are negotiating with a lot of other states to implement similar projects in other areas, to go there and set up a system,” he said.

His company has been involved in the wireless business since 1990.

“But they weren’t broadband,” said Ziari. “A couple of years ago, we felt the need to deploy some kind of broadband wireless Internet service. It happened at that time that CSEPP needed a certain amount of communication for emergency management.

One of Ziari’s companies, IRZ Technologies, developed a series of software and hardware for CSEPP to aid in their emergency management efforts so that in in the of an emergency, the impacted area can be pinpointed immediately.

“In order to do that, we needed a fast wireless network so emergency responders can respond in real-time,” he said.

In the event of an accident, emergency responders can use this wireless system to see the location impacted, then they can download a map of the area.

“Whatever area is impacted, they can see it right there in the computer, can download a map of the area, then go in real-time to deal with the situation,” Ziari said. “They can do it right now.”

The high-tech equipment can spot a chemical plume from the Umatilla Chemical Depot, calculate wind speed and direction, and measure the distance from the chemical to Hermiston.

During an emergency, a laptop computer in the command center and a hand-held computer called a “recon” in the field, the location of every emergency worker can be tracked.

Maps and documented information can be flashed on wall screens with second-by-second updates.

Steve Frazier, Hermiston assistant fire chief, said, “This is phenomenal. No one else has it.”

Frazier recently returned from a meeting in Los Angles. While there, he tried to explain their new technology to folks.

“They didn’t understand it completely,” Frazier said. “They just said, ?Wow.’ “

Ziari said the high-tech equipment offers a huge benefit to the Hermiston Fire Department.

“They have one of the most well prepared fire and rescue departments in dealing with an emergency situation in the country using their wireless,” Ziari said. “No one in the nation has access to the technology that we have.”

Ziari said the wireless technology can make using the Internet a mobile experience.

“You can go from city to city,” he said. “You don’t have to have different accounts if you want to move around. You can go online to get information from anywhere in the area, even from your car.”

Other wireless systems around world are tied to a specific location.

“If you go to a big city, you have to find someplace like Starbucks or a McDonald’s, there you can find high speed internet wireless,” Ziari said. “In Hermiston you don’t have to look for a Starbucks, it’s available everywhere.”

Ziari said they are in the process of offering the system to the general public sometime in the next few weeks.

Operating power for the wireless Internet is received through transmitters set up on antennas throughout the area.

“They will be able to call our company and subscribe, then we’ll hook them up,” Ziari said. “It takes the installation of a software and a simple antenna to allow them to access the Internet.”

If an electrical failure develops in the area, there is a power back up.

“We have a battery back-up,” Ziari said.