NG-911 project from TCS will bring unprecedented connectivity, South Dakota 911 leader says
NG-911 project from TCS will bring unprecedented connectivity, South Dakota 911 leader says
The project is funded through a 911 surcharge fee on phone lines. The legislature increased that fee by 50 cents in 2012, bringing it up to $1.25 per line and creating a revenue source for the transition to next-gen 911. Last fiscal year, the state collected $3.6 million.
South Dakota, which awarded the contract to TCS earlier this month, will lease the National Emergency Number Association (NENA) i3 compliant equipment from TCS. The company, which is based in Annapolis, will provide training for employees as a continuing service.
“This is a hosted model where the state does not own any of the call handling or any of the ESInet infrastructure,” McGinnis said. “For small jurisdictions, it’s the most cost effective way to go at this point.”
Once the five-year lease expires, the state has the option to renew for another five years at the same price and with an equipment refresh, according to Rechtenbaugh. TCS declined to elaborate on what exactly the $16.4 million would cover.
“Once we have our ESInet and we’re on that IP connection, the door is open to any of those new technologies,” Rechtenbaugh said. “We can then move with the technology versus right now, it’s always about how do we take our system that was not built to do that and how do we amend it or hook something on it to somehow change it so it somehow work with this? We’ll be in the 21st century on the new one and move along with the ever-changing technologies.”
Iowa and the North Central Texas Council of Governments previously tapped TCS for their respective ESInet deployments.
