United we stand

My favorite television mini-series is Band of Brothers, the Steven Spielberg/Tom Hanks epic that chronicled the adventures of the 101st Airborne's Easy Company during World War II. There are quite a few reasons for this. First, all of us owe so much to that generation of Americans who sacrificed so much. Second, I long have admired the military's sense of honor and duty, its chain-of-command structure, and the unshakeable bonds among those who serve that only can be forged in the heat of battle.

Yet another thing that I've long admired about the military is the all-for-one, one-for-all mentality that exists within it. (Of course, such an attitude pervades the first-responder sector as well.) Teamwork is the order of the day. More gets done when everyone is pulling on the same rope. Things get done better when everyone sets aside their personal agendas — the military well understands that the interests of the team always are more important than those of the individual.

What got me thinking about all of this is this issue's cover story, which focuses on the effort underway in the city of Boston and the surrounding regions to unify public-safety communications in Massachusetts. As Editor Donny Jackson reports, all of the involved entities are expected to realize much greater communications capabilities than would be possible had they continued to operate autonomously. As the Gestalt principle states, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

We are of a similar mindset here at Penton Media. For a very long time we have thought about this publication and its sister event — the International Wireless Communications Expo (IWCE) — in holistic terms. But recently, we strengthened the bond between the two by further integrating our efforts. Perhaps the most visible manifestation of this is that Stephanie McCall and Cathi O'Brien — who long have served IWCE's exhibitors extremely well — now are joining Dennis Hegg in selling advertising space in Urgent Communications.

Our goal is to not only strengthen the IWCE/UC franchise, but also — more importantly — put our collective heads together to create more and better opportunities that will help those we serve achieve their goals. After all, that's why we exist.

What do you think? Tell us in the comment box below.