Florida PSAPs turn to Airbus DS Communications for 911 upgrade, interoperability features
Marion County does not expect the PSAPs to being accepting text-to-911 emergency messages for at least another six months, according to Michelle Hirst, administrative manager for Marion County’s public-safety communications department.
Hirst said that Marion County is in the “very early stages” of working with surrounding counties to deploy an IP-based ESInet, which is a fundamental network component needed for PSAPs to transition to NG911. Oltz said officials would like to migrate operations to the proposed ESInet within three years.
In terms of upgrading the PSAPs to the current VESTA platform—an effort that was completed in September 2015—Oltz described the equipment-installation process as “almost completely painless,” noting that the upgrade was executed within several hours. In addition, personnel using the gear experienced a smooth transition, he said.
“On the face, it isn’t much different, because they configured it to look like pretty much what we had before on the GUI side—what the dispatcher sees,” Oltz said.