EarthSoft Announces Electronic Data Deliverable Standard

EarthSoft, Inc.ompany%> today announces that it has completed the technical review of an Electronic Data Deliverable (EDD) for US EPA Region 5, and has adopted this EDD as its standard EDD. This EDD is free and can be downloaded at http://www.earthsoft.com/download/edds/EPA5_EDD.zip.

The John A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center led the EDD documentation effort, with assistance from staff at Battelle, EPA Region 5, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, and EarthSoft.

This EDD can be checked for accuracy by the Electronic Lab Data Checker (ELDC), which most US analytical labs already possess. The EarthSoft Data Verification Module (DVM) will provide data quality review per the EPA Functional Guidelines on data delivered correctly. Additionally, an Electronic Field Data Checker (EFDC) is near completion to implement the EPA's Locational Data Program.

This EDD is based on the ‘4 File Format' developed by EarthSoft, and as such, this is already the most widely used EDD in the world.

Mitch Beard, president of EarthSoft, commented, "There is no such thing as a low volume standard. This EDD is high volume and supported by advanced tools to ensure Completeness and Correctness. This industry suffers from a lack of standards, as every group seems to have several. The release of this EDD is an important step for the entire industry. We invite all labs, consultants, and systems vendors to join our efforts to build volume standards, so that we can all afford to invest in tools surrounding and supporting this development."

Mike Bonomo, Business Development Director at Severn Trent Laboratories commented, "The ‘4 File Format' is a high volume EDD standard used by STL. As the industry moves more toward standards, our productivity and performance will be enhanced. It is nearly impossible to improve EDD quality when there are dozens or even a few hundred EDD's on the market which we must attempt to support."

EarthSoft develops and markets software for the management of environmental data and EarthSoft's EQuIS is the most widely used software in the world to manage environmental data. EQuIS is used by many industrial, government, and consulting clients. EarthSoft's Web page is www.earthsoft.com.