Apr 7, 2011 3:23 PM

Cassidian responded to multiple requests for increased mission-critical communications capacity in the aftermath of a 6.3-magnitude earthquake that hit New Zealand on Feb. 22. The earthquake struck near Christchurch – the country’s second-largest city, with a population of 386,000 – taking out buildings and power lines, and interrupting both landline and cellular networks.

The disruption of the public communications networks left the city relying heavily on its public-safety radio communications system, which survived the initial quake and aftershocks without a single site going down. The network — a CORP25 digital trunked LMR system — originally was installed in 2008 by Tait Radio Communications for the New Zealand Police.

In response to the numerous emergency rescue and relief responders flooding into the area, the first request for increased capacity to the mission-critical radio network came from Tait Radio Communications less than 24 hours after the quake initially hit. Cassidian took immediate action, and within three hours, workers were able to increase the subscriber user licenses from 1,700 to 2,200. Two days later an additional 500 licenses were requested – this time processed in under 20 minutes. The third request, 12 hours later, was for five additional channels, which Cassidian again delivered in record time.

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