FirstNet board members Dowd, Johnson share visions for broadband system

In addition to its hardware, the FirstNet system is expected to support software applications within a flexible platform that lets first responders and applications providers develop innovative programs that will help local agencies perform specific tasks more easily and more efficiently.

“I think the right approach to this is to go out there, not reinvent the world or try to tell people what they’re going to use—from an applications perspective—on this network, but get to a point where we have standards,” Dowd said during the session. “[Public Safety Advisory Committee Chairman Harlin McEwen] says this all the time: This network will not be successful, unless we pay close attention to how the applications roll out and how we utilize them on the network.”

Johnson echoed this sentiment and noted that FirstNet has yet to decide whether its application strategy will more closely resemble the “Android free-for-all approach” or an Apple model that requires a significant amount of vetting before a software application can be used on the network. Regardless which strategy is adopted, ensuring users that the FirstNet system is secure is critical, he said.

“There will be a security layer, of course, and it will be a robust security layer,” Johnson said. “The good thing about having a single nationwide network is that it puts all of us on the same network; the downside of that is that it gives someone one network to target [in a cyberattack].

“So, we can’t come up short on security and our security layer. The fact is that this network gets stronger and stronger the more people connect their databases to it and the more we mobilize the content of that data that’s put on the street. [But] People are going to be reluctant to connect their data, if we can’t demonstrate the highest level of security.”

FirstNet board members last month approved an organizational roadmap, but only a two-page summary has been released publicly to date. Dowd said “the goal is to get it out as soon as we can,” but Johnson noted that many elements of the roadmap need to remain private for the moment.

“What we don’t want to do is take any action that contaminates our goal or the process on our path to getting this done,” he said. “Because, if we mess that up, it just slows us down. So, we’re being extra cautious not to do anything that ends up slowing us down.”

Both board members reiterated the FirstNet’s efforts to engage stakeholders at both the state and local levels, but they also spoke openly about the need for outreach to the vendor community that will develop the products needed to make the public-safety broadband vision a reality.

“We … get that there’s a lot of interest in our business planning, because there are people in this room that represent commercial interests that want to be a part of FirstNet,” Johnson said. “You believe you have products and services that are part of our future, and you believe you have an enlightened perspective that will help us achieve our public-safety goals.

“What you don’t want to do is you don’t want to miss the horizon. You don’t want to be sitting there without staff, open your eyes and realize that this horse is already out of the barn by 200 yards. We get that what you want is some predictability and some insight into what that process is, so you can make good decisions, and that—by and large—helps us.”