APCO’s Project 43 initiative to focus on PSAP operation in next-gen 911 environment

NG911 has been the focus of several initiatives recently. At the FCC, Chairman Tom Wheeler has called on Congress to help fund PSAPs’ transition to the IP-based NG911 architecture, and the Task Force on Optimal PSAP Architecture released its report addressing several key challenges involved in the migration.

In addition, the new NG911 NOW Coalition——led by the National Association of State 911 Administrators (NASNA), the Industry Council for Emergency Response Technologies (iCERT) and the National Emergency Number Association (NENA)—last month announced its goal of having all PSAPs complete their transition to NG911 by the end of 2020, so legacy 911 systems can be retired.

Poarch applauded all of these initiatives and repeatedly stated that he believes that Project 43 will complement these efforts. However, if Project 43 does require the development of standards, that work may not be finished when PSAP wanting to meet the 2020 transition goal begin operating on the new platform.

“Normally, from the time you initially file to start the [standards] process, runs two to three years,” Poarch said. “So, if all of the stars align perfectly, … we believe we can bring Project 43 in next year and have the standards work completed by the end of the year 2020,

“Now, could there be work that comes forward quicker than 2017 that’s obviously related to standards? Yes. But I think it’s important for us to get it right rather than getting it quick. So, we’re going to set timelines for all of the deliverables that are going to come out of the working groups and move as expeditiously as we can.”