Fairfax County, Va., upgrading PSAPs to NG911-compliant system from Airbus DS Communications

Login practices are expected to be simplified under the new system, McMurrer said.

“So there will be an operational improvement, because it will be one system,” he said. “One login will be able to take care of calls and texts. Today, a call-taker—if they were going to do both—would have to use one login to log into the web browser application, and their other logins to log into the current VESTA system.”

McMurrer said about 250 people will be trained on the new system during September and October, and official hope to transition to the new platform by the end of the year. Fairfax County is hopeful that the fact that all of the PSAPs use some version of a VESTA system today will help training proceed smoothly, he said.

With the implementation of the new call-handling system, Fairfax County PSAPs will have a solution that can support NG911 operations. Plans call for a request for proposal (RFP) to be released early next year to solicit bids for an emergency services IP network (ESInet)—the network platform for a standards-based NG911 system—to be built in northern Virginia, McMurrer said. In addition, that RFP will seek pricing for an ESInet to support PSAPs in neighboring Maryland counties, he said.

“Within our region, probably 80% of [PSAPs] are either in the process of upgrading their platform or very soon will begin an effort to upgrade it,” McMurrer said. “So, by the time the decision is made on an ESInet provider, within the immediate footprint of northern Virginia, suburban Maryland and D.C., we’ll all probably be on a next-generation platform from one vendor or another.

“I think there’s a lot of focus on making sure that we can get upgraded and that they’re in a position to get upgraded.”

If current plans can be executed smoothly, Fairfax County PSAPs could be operating on an ESInet in early 2018, McMurrer said.