FCC to host forum on interoperability-center proposal
ORLANDO — Ideas for a proposed public-safety emergency response interoperability center (ERIC) will be discussed during a forum on Feb. 10, the FCC’s public safety and homeland security bureau (PSHSB) announced this week.
“ERIC would be a federal group with a strong public-safety flavor — we would like it to have a strong public-safety advisory committee,” PSHSB Chief Jamie Barnett said during the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO) Winter Summit. “It would look at things like, ‘How are we going to roam between jurisdictions? What are the authentication factors and encryption?’ And, if there are disputes or problems, we would be able to work those out from a technical standpoint.”
A product of responses the FCC received as part of the national broadband plan proceedings, the forum will focus on the structure and roles for ERIC in establishing public-safety interoperability and establishing standards for commercial providers to expand first responder’s access to broadband services nationwide.
Audio/video coverage of the meeting will be broadcast live with open captioning over the Internet from the FCC’s Web page at www.fcc.gov/realaudio.
