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Donny Jackson

Editor
Urgent Communications
Email donny.jackson@penton.com

Donny Jackson is editor of Urgent Communications magazine. Before joining UC in 2002, he covered telecommunications for four years as a freelance writer and as news editor for Telephony magazine. Prior to that, he worked for suburban newspapers in the Dallas area, serving as editor-in-chief for the Irving News and the Las Colinas Business News.

Articles by Donny Jackson
PSAPs find text-to-911 transition relatively straightforward
Adding text-to-911 functionality to public-safety answering points (PSAPs) has proven helpful without being particularly difficult or burdensome, according to officials for two 911 centers that have been receiving emergency text communications via solutions provided by Intrado.
FirstNet grants extension for BTOP recipients
Entities have through July 12 to complete spectrum-lease negotiations; meanwhile, the deadline to spend grant money also is expected to be pushed back one year to September 2015.
FirstNet special committee takes initial steps, readies for Fitzgerald interview
Two subcommittees were formed, one to look into openness and transparency concerns, and another to examine conflict-of-interest allegations. FirstNet chairman Sam Ginn has vowed to implement committee recommendations, "whatever they are."
UK seeks to replace TETRA with LTE as early as 2016 4
Official says cost, not performance is the issue, and calls TETRA "extremely expensive" compared with the per-minute costs of commercial wireless air time.
FirstNet approves expanded budget, new leadership structure 1
Authorized spending would increase to $20 miliion for FY2013, and paid staff will be hired; general manager Bill D'Agostino hopes to have his "leadership team" in place by September.
FirstNet completes first half of regional meetings
Meetings have been well attended, and have been "really informative in both directions," said FirstNet board member Jeff Johnson.
NYC evaluating responses to broadband RFI 3
Dowd says exercise isn't an indicator that city wants to do something separate from the nationwide public safety broadband network being built by FirstNet.
NYC transitions to new CAD system, experiences outage 2
Replaces 40-year-old legacy system that originally was a modified airline reservation system; new capabilities include real-time Web-based reporting, AVL display and the ability to support digital dispatch. "It was a huge event for us," said NYPD assistant chief Charles Dowd.
Mississippi faces key funding decisions for statewide P25 network 2
Mississippi legislators will need to provide several millions of dollars in funding, or the statewide P25 network will have to shut down next February, according to a key official with the Mississippi Wireless Communication Commission (WCC).
FCC commissioners share incentive-auction ideas at CTIA
Acting Chair Clyburn believes auctions will be held next year; meanwhile, Rosenworcel wants four public hearings to dissect major aspects.
LA County taps Harris for new P25 system 5
Legacy EDACS system will be replaced by a $20 million system--at no cost to the county--under terms of rebanding deal with Sprint Nextel.
TCS' VoLTE service for 911 enters production with LTE carriers
Customizable platform enables LTE networks to provide call-routing and location information to PSAPs.
FirstNet grants extension for spectrum-lease accord with BTOP recipients
The 30-day extension was by mutual agreement of FirstNet and the seven BTOP grant recipients; agreements are needed for early public-safety LTE projects, on hold for more than a year, to proceed.
Public safety reconsiders who should use its broadband network
The sector has warmed up to the idea that critical-infrastructure entities, particularly utilities, might use its nationwide broadband network.
FirstNet begins regional workshop tour this week
Events are part of "listening tour" designed to uncover what states, tribes and terrirories need from the much-anticipated nationwide broadband communications network for first responders.

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Commentaries and Blogs
911 telecommunicators are ‘ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances’
by Glenn Bischoff
Posted 1 day ago
in Urgent Matters
Next-gen 911 system from Intrado helps Vermont weather Hurricane Irene
Posted 2 days ago
in View from the Top
Text to 911: We can't afford to wait
Posted 2 days ago
in View from the Top

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