https://urgentcomm.com/wp-content/themes/ucm_child/assets/images/logo/footer-new-logo.png
  • Home
  • News
  • Multimedia
    • Back
    • Multimedia
    • Video
    • Podcasts
    • Galleries
    • IWCE’s Video Showcase
    • Product Guides
  • Commentary
    • Back
    • Commentary
    • Urgent Matters
    • View From The Top
    • All Things IWCE
    • Legal Matters
  • Resources
    • Back
    • Resources
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
    • Reprints & Reuse
  • IWCE
    • Back
    • IWCE
    • Conference
    • Special Events
    • Exhibitor Listings
    • Premier Partners
    • Floor Plan
    • Exhibiting Information
    • Register for IWCE
  • About Us
    • Back
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise
    • Terms of Service
    • Privacy Statement
    • Cookie Policy
  • Related Sites
    • Back
    • American City & County
    • IWCE
    • Light Reading
    • IOT World Today
    • Mission Critical Technologies
    • TU-Auto
  • In the field
    • Back
    • In the field
    • Broadband Push-to-X
    • Internet of Things
    • Project 25
    • Public-Safety Broadband/FirstNet
    • Virtual/Augmented Reality
    • Land Mobile Radio
    • Long Term Evolution (LTE)
    • Applications
    • Drones/Robots
    • IoT/Smart X
    • Software
    • Subscriber Devices
    • Video
  • Call Center/Command
    • Back
    • Call Center/Command
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • NG911
    • Alerting Systems
    • Analytics
    • Dispatch/Call-taking
    • Incident Command/Situational Awareness
    • Tracking, Monitoring & Control
  • Network Tech
    • Back
    • Network Tech
    • Interoperability
    • LMR 100
    • LMR 200
    • Backhaul
    • Deployables
    • Power
    • Tower & Site
    • Wireless Networks
    • Coverage/Interference
    • Security
    • System Design
    • System Installation
    • System Operation
    • Test & Measurement
  • Operations
    • Back
    • Operations
    • Critical Infrastructure
    • Enterprise
    • Federal Government/Military
    • Public Safety
    • State & Local Government
    • Training
  • Regulations
    • Back
    • Regulations
    • Narrowbanding
    • T-Band
    • Rebanding
    • TV White Spaces
    • None
    • Funding
    • Policy
    • Regional Coordination
    • Standards
  • Organizations
    • Back
    • Organizations
    • AASHTO
    • APCO
    • DHS
    • DMR Association
    • ETA
    • EWA
    • FCC
    • IWCE
    • NASEMSO
    • NATE
    • NXDN Forum
    • NENA
    • NIST/PSCR
    • NPSTC
    • NTIA/FirstNet
    • P25 TIG
    • TETRA + CCA
    • UTC
Urgent Communications
  • NEWSLETTER
  • Home
  • News
  • Multimedia
    • Back
    • Video
    • Podcasts
    • Omdia Crit Comms Circle Podcast
    • Galleries
    • IWCE’s Video Showcase
    • Product Guides
  • Commentary
    • Back
    • All Things IWCE
    • Urgent Matters
    • View From The Top
    • Legal Matters
  • Resources
    • Back
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
    • Reprints & Reuse
    • UC eZines
    • Sponsored content
  • IWCE
    • Back
    • Conference
    • Why Attend
    • Exhibitor Listing
    • Floor Plan
    • Exhibiting Information
    • Join the Event Mailing List
  • About Us
    • Back
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise
    • Cookie Policy
    • Terms of Service
    • Privacy Statement
  • Related Sites
    • Back
    • American City & County
    • IWCE
    • Light Reading
    • IOT World Today
    • TU-Auto
  • newsletter
  • In the field
    • Back
    • Internet of Things
    • Broadband Push-to-X
    • Project 25
    • Public-Safety Broadband/FirstNet
    • Virtual/Augmented Reality
    • Land Mobile Radio
    • Long Term Evolution (LTE)
    • Applications
    • Drones/Robots
    • IoT/Smart X
    • Software
    • Subscriber Devices
    • Video
  • Call Center/Command
    • Back
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • NG911
    • Alerting Systems
    • Analytics
    • Dispatch/Call-taking
    • Incident Command/Situational Awareness
    • Tracking, Monitoring & Control
  • Network Tech
    • Back
    • Cybersecurity
    • Interoperability
    • LMR 100
    • LMR 200
    • Backhaul
    • Deployables
    • Power
    • Tower & Site
    • Wireless Networks
    • Coverage/Interference
    • Security
    • System Design
    • System Installation
    • System Operation
    • Test & Measurement
  • Operations
    • Back
    • Critical Infrastructure
    • Enterprise
    • Federal Government/Military
    • Public Safety
    • State & Local Government
    • Training
  • Regulations
    • Back
    • Narrowbanding
    • T-Band
    • Rebanding
    • TV White Spaces
    • None
    • Funding
    • Policy
    • Regional Coordination
    • Standards
  • Organizations
    • Back
    • AASHTO
    • APCO
    • DHS
    • DMR Association
    • ETA
    • EWA
    • FCC
    • IWCE
    • NASEMSO
    • NATE
    • NXDN Forum
    • NENA
    • NIST/PSCR
    • NPSTC
    • NTIA/FirstNet
    • P25 TIG
    • TETRA + CCA
    • UTC
acc.com

NG-911


News

Avaya announces availability of MLTS location capabilities through integration with RapidSOS, 911 Secure

Avaya announces availability of MLTS location capabilities through integration with RapidSOS, 911 Secure

  • Written by Donny Jackson
  • 21st June 2019

Emergency calls from multi-line telephone systems (MLTS) can include better location and situational-awareness information, thanks to integration work between Avaya, RapidSOS and 911 Secure that is now commercially available to enterprises—and is available for use by other 911 vendors, if they want.

Avaya recently announced the commercial availability of the location enhancement, which leverages Avaya’s PBX, the RapidSOS location database and the SENTRY NG911 technology from 911 Secure. The solution was used successfully in a pilot program in Shelby County, Tenn., according to Mark Fletcher, Avaya’s chief architect for worldwide public-safety solutions.

“We announced this capability with the pilot that we did in Shelby County … earlier this year,” Fletcher said during an interview with IWCE’s Urgent Communications. “It took a few months to get the business and operational sides together and deliver this as an offering. That’s what this is—the announcement of this becoming … publicly available.”

Emergency calls from MLTS or PBX system have been problematic for first responders at times, because the accompanying location information often reflected the main office of an enterprise, not the room where the 911 call was made in an office or campus setting. With the integration implemented by Avaya, RapidSOS and 911 Secure, 911 centers can receive location data that is much more accurate and useful to first responders.

Fletcher said he first presented this notion of an over-the-top approach to supplying better location information to PSAPs when 911 use phones supported by PBX technology in 2012, and now all of the components are available and have been integrated.

“When I first presented over-the-top next-gen 911 to the FCC, it was a fairly simple concept,” he said. “But that construct required that 6,100 PSAPs to deal with hundreds of thousands of business, and that huge, complex mesh operationally was impossible to pull off.

“What RapidSOS brought to the table was exactly what they are—that generalized clearinghouse that could pre-establish relationships with the PSAPs and then establish relationships with the enterprise spaces. That’s where 911 Secure came into play, because they’re the carrier component that’s carrying that traffic into that repository database.”

RapidSOS

“We really are the delivery mechanism to get this valuable first-responder data—where the person is when they pick up that Avaya phone at their office—to get first responders to that location, whether it be on the fifth floor, the fitness center or a meeting room with a description.

“We found that, a lot of times when this enterprise information comes across, it may say, ‘They’re in Mailstop F290,’ but that doesn’t mean anything to a first responder. The way that 911 Secure delivers us the information about where the device is includes a lot more description, even stating, ‘Go up the stairs on the left stairwell to third floor, and look for the meeting room on the right.’ We can get that to dispatchers.”

Jeff Robertson, senior vice president and general manager of public safety for RapidSOS, echoed this sentiment, highlighting the importance of the 911 Secure descriptions in making the location data of practical use to first responders.

“We really are the delivery mechanism to get this valuable first-responder data—where the person is when they pick up that Avaya phone at their office—to get first responders to that location, whether it be on the fifth floor, the fitness center or a meeting room with a description,’ Robertson said during an interview with IWCE’s Urgent Communications.

“We found that, a lot of times when this enterprise information comes across, it may say, ‘They’re in Mailstop F290,’ but that doesn’t mean anything to a first responder. The way that 911 Secure delivers us the information about where the [911 caller’s] device is includes a lot more description, even stating, ‘Go up the stairs on the left stairwell to third floor, and look for the meeting room on the right.’ We can get that to dispatchers.”

Kevin Kito, president and CEO of 911 Secure, said that the ability of the RapidSOS clearinghouse to store multimedia—a far cry from legacy 911 databases that are limited to roughly 20 words—has caused him to rethink the type of information to include about a location, beyond an address.

“[With legacy 911 systems,] you can only put so much information in there—the building number, the floor, that type of thing,” Kito said during an interview with IWCE’s Urgent Communications. “Now that we can put almost anything we want in there, I was picking the brain of one of my law-enforcement friends [about what would be helpful during a response], and he said, ‘If I could get a picture of the front of the building … So many times, we drive to places, and we’re looking—trying to see behind the trees—to see if it’s the right address.’

“But, if they just had a picture of the front of the building, it would be so much easier. They could just drive up, look at their tablet [with the picture] and know where they’re going … It makes so much sense.”

Accessing location data from the RapidSOS clearinghouse for calls from MLTS phones is not difficult for PSAPs, because that database platform is one they use with increasing frequency, according to Fletcher.

“They’re already dipping into that [RapidSOS] database on 80% or 90% of the calls anyway, because of the cellular location data,” Fletcher said. “Once we saw that, this was the perfect last mile to get our data to public safety. The legacy 911 network does voice, and that’s all it does.”

Currently, only Avaya, RapidSOS and 911 Secure offer the integrated location solution for emergency calls from MLTS phones. Fletcher said he purposely has made the technical details available to competitors, but he is not sure whether other vendors will be willing to implement its

“Everything is built on open standards, so there’s no reason why anybody can’t do this,” Fletcher said. “That’s one of the reasons why I presented over-the-top to the FCC ack in 2012. That made it a matter of public record and prior art, because I don’t believe that things like this should be patented and locked away.

“It’s open technology. I want people to use this, and I’m a bit embarrassed that we’re the only ones that have brought it to market. Maybe there’s a financial model behind that … Whatever, we’re looking to save lives.”

Fletcher said he presented the integrated location solution when speaking on a panel during a recent trade show, but the concept was not embraced by representatives from other vendors in the session.

“We thought everybody would jump on top of this, but they didn’t,” Fletcher said. “They actually were kind of shunning the solution and saying, ‘Well, dispatcher really don’t want that information. It’s confusing.’ I’m thinking, ‘My god, are you really going to take that stance?’

“My comment to him on the panel was, ‘Just because you haven’t figured out a way to monetize this doesn’t mean it’s not a good idea. Unfortunately, the database companies out there have a financial model, that they build to, and this decimates that financial model. So, we’re not seeing them pick up on this.

Kito said he received a similar reaction from other vendors.

“I saw friends from some other companies, and I got some of the same feedback from them,” Kito said. “They’re like, ‘We don’t want to do that, because it’s going to cannibalize our base. Why would we want to do that? It doesn’t make any sense.’

“But, for us, it’s fantastic. The whole point of 911 Secure is that we want to make sure that somebody picks up the phone, they make the 911 call, the call gets directed to the right place, and police/fire/ambulance get to that emergency as quickly as possible. That’s our primary goal. If we can make some money in the background, fine, but we’re not looking to become multimillionaires off of this. We trying to make sure that people are protected. That’s the point of our company.”

 

Tags: homepage-featured-4 Applications Companies Dispatch/Call-taking Enterprise FCC In-Building Incident Command/Situational Awareness News NG-911 Policy Public Safety State & Local Government System Design System Operation Tracking, Monitoring & Control News

Most Recent


  • AR-based next-gen maps aim to rebalance detail and simplicity
    Every sat-nav user is familiar with the chagrin of missing their turn because the map’s lines and circles don’t resemble the real world. Yandex is blaming maps, not users, for these errors. At its annual conference in December, the company presented its re-designed maps boasting natural-looking 3D objects such as trees, bus stops, colored buildings, […]
  • Vodafone UK starts 'risky' shift to 5G standalone
    Vodafone’s Andrea Dona has unflattering words for some of the IT products that could sit inside his high-performance 5G network. “There are OSS limitations,” said the chief network officer of the UK service provider, referring to operational support systems from unnamed vendors. “If there is full automation on the 5G element, and the OSS is […]
  • ChatGPT may be fastest-growing app of all time, UBS Says
    OpenAI’s immensely popular chatbot ChatGPT may just have broken the record for the fastest-growing app in history, reaching an estimated 123 million monthly active users less than three months after launch. According a research note from UBS shared with AI Business, TikTok took nine months to hit 100 million MAUs and it took Instagram 2.5 years […]
  • Public-safety coalition renews efforts to secure federal NG911 funding
    A coalition of public-safety associations today reiterated its support for federal legislation that would provide the funding needed to pay for 911 centers to migrate from legacy technologies to an IP-based next-generation 911 (NG911) platform that is designed to support multimedia communications, as well as traditional voice calls. Representatives of the Public Safety Next Generation […]

Leave a comment Cancel reply

To leave a comment login with your Urgent Comms account:

Log in with your Urgent Comms account

Or alternatively provide your name, email address below:

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Content

  • New Orleans-area 911 center inks multiyear APEX deal with Carbyne to replace call-handling system
  • APCO, NENA, NASNA speakers cite ‘discussions’ to address NG911 funding issues
  • Avaya announces availability of MLTS location capabilities through integration with RapidSOS, 911 Secure
    Newscan: Dorchester County (S.C.) learning lessons following 911 outage
  • Semiconductor industry growth spikes, but supply remains constrained

Commentary


How 5G is making cities safer, smarter, and more efficient

26th January 2023

3GPP moves Release 18 freeze date to March 2024

18th January 2023

Do smart cities make safer cities?

  • 1
6th January 2023
view all

Events


UC Ezines


IWCE 2019 Wrap Up

13th May 2019
view all

Twitter


UrgentComm

AR-based next-gen maps aim to rebalance detail and simplicity dlvr.it/Sj4gdM

7th February 2023
UrgentComm

Vodafone UK starts ‘risky’ shift to 5G standalone dlvr.it/Sj4dPJ

7th February 2023
UrgentComm

ChatGPT may be fastest-growing app of all time, UBS Says dlvr.it/Sj4NfL

7th February 2023
UrgentComm

Public-safety coalition renews efforts to secure federal NG911 funding dlvr.it/ShwGfn

4th February 2023
UrgentComm

Newscan: Cyberattacks on DoE national labs draw lawmaker scrutiny dlvr.it/Shvpw3

3rd February 2023
UrgentComm

The shine begins to wear off 5G private wireless dlvr.it/Shth0P

3rd February 2023
UrgentComm

Phishers trick Microsoft into granting them ‘verified’ Cloud Partner status dlvr.it/Shqngn

2nd February 2023
UrgentComm

Shapeshifting robot can morph from a liquid to a solid dlvr.it/Shqk9K

2nd February 2023

Newsletter

Sign up for UrgentComm’s newsletters to receive regular news and information updates about Communications and Technology.

Expert Commentary

Learn from experts about the latest technology in automation, machine-learning, big data and cybersecurity.

Business Media

Find the latest videos and media from the market leaders.

Media Kit and Advertising

Want to reach our digital and print audiences? Learn more here.

DISCOVER MORE FROM INFORMA TECH

  • American City & County
  • IWCE
  • Light Reading
  • IOT World Today
  • Mission Critical Technologies
  • TU-Auto

WORKING WITH US

  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Events
  • Careers

FOLLOW Urgent Comms ON SOCIAL

  • Privacy
  • CCPA: “Do Not Sell My Data”
  • Cookie Policy
  • Terms
Copyright © 2023 Informa PLC. Informa PLC is registered in England and Wales with company number 8860726 whose registered and Head office is 5 Howick Place, London, SW1P 1WG.