Genesis makes TETRA moves
Network-management software vendor The Genesis Group recently announced deployment of its GenSZAI solution by the Police Services of Northern Ireland (PSNI) as well as an agreement with a United Kingdom entity that the Texas-based firm hopes will allow it to grab a share of the European TETRA market.
Genesis President Phil Burks said his company is well-positioned technologically to enter the TETRA market, because the Air Traffic Information Application (ATIA) protocol used for Motorola’s TETRA system—known as Dimetra—is identical to that used in SmartZone systems Genesis has served in the U.S.
For this reason, Genesis was able to land a contract with a Greek public-safety agency several years ago, but the PSNI announcement marks the company’s first TETRA deal with ongoing support.
PSNI has installed the Genesis Gen SZAI software to gather detailed analysis of TETRA network traffic in real time instead of waiting a month for Call Detail Reports (CDRs) to be delivered. Although the installation and training associated with the PSNI deal was conducted by Benelux distributor Bumicom, Genesis hopes to expand its base in the UK via a partnership with consultancy firm CJG Associates, which has supported more than 40% of agencies migrating onto the UK-wide Airwave TETRA network.
While member agencies have lauded Airwave’s vast coverage and managed system with 3000 sites, some users have expressed disappointment concerning the monthly CDR reports.
“One of the big things they’ve lost is their level of instant knowledge of what’s going on and the level of forensic reporting they were used to [as owners of their own systems],” Burks said. “Our tools can easily tell them—dynamically—if a site is on or off, which is important.”
In addition to the timeliness of the GenSZAI information, the information available in the solution is more complete than the data provided in an Airwaves’ CDR, Burks said. “Since there’s so many layers in the Airwave situation, the agencies are not always as knowledgeable about the problems as they would like to be,” he said. “In essence, what it boils down to is, things that might be embarrassing to Airwave as a system owner they don’t pass on to their agencies.”
Burks said that some of this might be attributable to fears from Airwave that others might access proprietary customer information. The GenSZAI system filters each customer’s information and encrypts it to ensure security, he said.
