Motorola logs radio system, CAD, software sales; plus encryption improvement

Akron’s 3-1-1 non-emergency calls automated
Harford County, Md., SmartNet system
128-bit encryption support
Wake County, N.C., SmartZone system
Software for Winston-Salem
CAD in Lehigh County, Pa.

Akron, Ohio, has selected Motorola’s customer service request system to automate its service delivery citywide and across departments, and its call center operations.

Akron is the first city in Ohio to purchase the CSR 3-1-1 system, enabling city workers to handle an annual average of 400,000 calls for non-emergency service requests and information.

“The CSR system will enable us to achieve our vision of providing citizens quicker access to the city’s services 24 hours a day throughout the year,” said Mayor Donald Plusquellic. “This system is the key to our ongoing efforts to deliver to our citizens the services they need exactly when they need them.”

“We’ve designed the system so cities such as Akron can automate their responses to citizen requests and collect important data that can be used to better manage city resources,” said Rich Polulak, Motorola Communications and Electronics vice president and director, Integrated Solutions Division. “The CSR system enables the city to get a bird’s eye view of its workflow management and make changes that will better serve its citizens.”

Akron had used a manual system to route citizen requests. When a call came in, the request was entered, an order was printed and then manually delivered to the appropriate department for resolution.

“Only our public safety and sewer and water departments were able to respond to citizen requests within 24 hours,” said Marco Sommerville, president of Akron City Council. “In addition, there was no way to track the requests we received because complaint taking and record keeping was spread over various departments that were unable to share data.”

The CSR system automatically routes these calls to the appropriate department where the activity is tracked, escalated for more immediate attention, if necessary, and entered into a central database. Akron will be able to track data that includes the nature of the problem, location, caller, time of day, which department responded and length of response time.

In future phases, citizens will be able to submit requests over the Internet, and then the CSR system will wirelessly transmit those requests instantly to inspectors out in the field and other work crews. Citizens will then be provided with a service request number and an anticipated response time. As an extra check, if deadlines for certain tasks aren’t met, the CSR system will automatically remind personnel assigned to those tasks that action is needed.

“The CSR system will enable us to take action more quickly, track employee efforts more efficiently and ensure the effective delivery of service,” added Sommerville. “Employees who use the system will be able to track the progress of service requests from initial dispatch through resolution.”

The system’s first phase will be installed in the city’s Public Service, Public Works, Recreations, Customer Services, Sanitation departments and the Mayor and Council’s offices because they receive the majority of citizens’ requests for assistance. In fact, on an average Monday, City Hall alone receives 12,000 calls, both for emergency and non-emergency requests. By the end of next year, the system will be rolled out to the rest of the city departments—a total of 2,100 employees.

Akron joins other cities around the United States that use Motorola’s CSR system for non-emergency requests, including Dallas, Austin and Houston, Texas; Baltimore, Md.; Chicago; and San Jose, Calif. In addition, the city of Winston-Salem in North Carolina recently acquired the system and implementation is under way.

Harford County, Md., SmartNet system

In Harford County, Md., the fire, ambulance and police departments are set to integrate their radio communications with the purchase of a Motorola’s Astro SmartNet digital system.

The $23 million dollar system is expected to be operational by 2005 with upgrades in voice communications, installation of computers in vehicles, an automatic locator subsystem and connectivity to various siren systems for sounding general alarms to the citizens of Harford County.

“Every day, we are asking emergency providers to put their lives on the line,” said Harford County Executive James M. Harkins. “The very least the county can do is to ensure our police officers and our fire and ambulance crews have the communication tools necessary for them to protect our citizens and to protect themselves.”

The new communications system will connect all parts of Harford County with the statewide microwave system now under construction. The current voice communications systems will be upgraded and will include state-of-the-art radios with new features such as an emergency button for summoning help.

Between now and early next year, the county will replace the microwave system and upgrade the fire dispatch and paging system. New equipment will be installed during 2003 and 2004 at tower sites and at the Harford County Communications Center. Later in 2004, new radios will be installed in fire vehicles and ambulances. New portable radios will be issued to all fire, emergency medical services, and law enforcement personnel. Training will be conducted with the new equipment being tested in 2004 and 2005.

128-bit encryption support

Motorola said that it has made a commitment to support 128-bit encryption in its TxMessenger application to provide a secure messaging platform for public safety communications.

TxMessenger is Motorola’s mobile messaging application for systems using the TX messaging protocol.

“With the recent increased focus on security, it is imperative that Motorola’s TxMessenger fully comply with the upcoming federal 128-bit encryption mandate,” said Joe Raposa, director of operations for Motorola’s Mobile Applications. “Personal information including a person’s name, address, and warrant information is extremely sensitive and this enhanced level of encryption provides an added safeguard to ensure confidentiality.”

TxMessenger supports the transmission of text, status, and forms-based messages and database inquiries to a host computer using Motorola’s TX messaging protocol. TxMessenger enables public safety users to access state, local and national databases as well as prepare and transmit text, status and form-based messages.

Existing customers of Motorola’s TX and WaveSoft Link applications can use TxMessenger for replacement or add-on purposes. It supports all TX and WaveSoft-Link forms (except WaveSoft-Link 200 DCF forms) without additional work required.

“TxMessenger with 128-bit encryption gives Motorola customers the ability to comply with the federal mandate, without having to get a major message switch system upgrade,” said Raposa. “We meet our customers’ needs today, giving them the ability to make long term migration plans on their own timetable.”

Wake County, N.C., SmartZone system

Wake, the largest North Carolina county, has contracted with Motorola to expand its public safety communications capabilities.

The county signed a $21.6 million contract to purchase and install an 800 MHz 4.1 SmartZone mixed-mode voice and Premier CAD computer-aided dispatch communications solution. The system is designed to expand the existing North Carolina State Highway Patrol (NCSHP) system, improving interoperability among local, county and state public safety agencies in the county.

“This radio system represents a massive improvement in emergency radio communications in Wake County,” said Wake County’s Public Safety Director John Rukavina. “Our fire, EMS and law enforcement agencies are eager to move from outdated VHF/UHF technology that cannot grow with Wake County. Additionally, our partnership with the State Highway Patrol will enhance interoperability and provide additional opportunities for use of new technology.”

The new, shared system will add one simulcast and three IntelliRepeater subsystems to the existing NCSHP SmartZone trunked system providing wide-area coverage throughout Wake County’s 12 municipalities, including the state capital of Raleigh. Seven trunked RF sites in the system will contain 14 channels operating in a simulcast mode. The system will utilize 533 dash mount mobiles, 194 trunk-mount mobiles, 884 portable radios, 235 control stations and 270 remote control units.

“Our primary goal with creating this system was to eliminate the coverage problems that continued to plague our aging legacy communications systems and improve all facets of emergency management,” said Emergency Management Director for Wake County, Martin Chriscoe. “The system will significantly impact our ability to respond quickly and efficiently to large incidents in the area, but also smaller daily incidents that require a multiple agency response.”

Once fully operational, the system also will include the Premier CAD system, which allows call takers and dispatchers to quickly and efficiently handle incident information, thus providing tools that can assist the County in its efforts to increase officer safety and the potential to save lives. Premier CAD technology will help Wake County and the city of Raleigh take full advantage of their coordinate-based Environmental Systems Research Institute-supplied geographic information system data and prepare them for Phase II wireless E9-1-1.

“We expect the CAD system to help us reduce call-handling and dispatch time – thus decreasing overall response time – and ultimately, telecommunications workload,” said Rukavina.

“We are pleased to bring the latest in state-of-the-art public safety communications capability to Wake County,” said Jim Widick, vice president and general manager of Motorola’s Integrated Solutions Division. “The progressive and highly collaborative nature of this initiative sets a tremendous example for other public safety agencies both inside and outside the state to emulate.”

Software for Winston-Salem

Motorola is supplying software for Winston-Salem, N.C.’s customer request management project to automate the intake, routing, resolution, and tracking of citizen’s requests for information and services.

Winston-Salem receives more than 2,700 calls per day. About 500 calls are requests for service. The remaining calls are requests for information or transfers to a specific department. Currently, most requests are processed manually. Using Motorola’s CSR product, the city respond to, track, and report on citizens’ requests.

During the first phase of the CRM project, three public works departments—sanitation, streets, and a division of utilities—will use the CSR software. Public works receives a large proportion of the daily calls, and operates around the clock to provide for emergency services.

Completion of the first phase is planned for the fourth quarter of 2002. In later phases, the city plans to expand the system to all non-emergency services. The knowledge gained and statistics generated will allow the city to evaluate the feasibility of creating a 3-1-1 center; a central point of contact for non-emergency city services.

The 3-1-1 number eliminates confusion about who to call for local government information and services. The number also reduces non-emergency calls to 9-1-1 operators, improving emergency services response time.

“Our IT infrastructure and support organization, like many cities our size, is now at the point where we can deploy enterprise applications that solve many of the business problems historically inherent to local governments. We conducted an extensive analysis of the available CRM solutions for local governments and found Motorola’s product to be the industry leader. It was a pleasant surprise to find out that we were able to purchase the premier product at an affordable price,” said Dennis Newman, Winston-Salem’s chief information officer. “Motorola’s new focus on cities of our size allows our citizens to receive an excellent value.”

Motorola’s CSR system supports:

Large cities including Chicago, Baltimore, Houston, Dallas, and San Jose are already experiencing the benefits of using Motorola’s CSR system. Winston-Salem is the first mid-sized city to implement the CSR software.

CAD in Lehigh County, Pa.

Motorola’s Printrak subsidiary will provide an integrated computer-aided dispatch system to Lehigh County, Pa., to enable police, fire and EMS agencies to share information and quickly and efficiently respond to calls and handle incidents.

The company’s Premier CAD is designed to streamline the dispatching process by automating call taking and dispatching functions. With Premier CAD, Lehigh County’s 9-1-1 dispatchers will have the ability to utilize the same system to initiate and manage incidents and dispatch resources. During events that require a multiple-agency response, all agencies now will be able to work from the same incident data and dispatchers will immediately know what resources have been committed. The system is scheduled for completion during the spring of 2003.

“We evaluated a number of systems from across the country and found this technology to be the most ideal solution for our public safety environment,” said Laurie Bailey, 9-1-1 coordinator. “Premier CAD features state-of-the-art tools and mapping that will allow us to better handle the increased use of cellular 9-1-1 calls as well as enable us to quickly and efficiently manage call responses for multiple jurisdictions around the area.”

The Premier CAD system will be interfaced to a number of external applications, including the county’s existing mobile data network as well as the Commonwealth Law Enforcement Assistance Network (CLEAN). CLEAN is used by Pennsylvania’s criminal justice agencies to access driver license and motor vehicle information, state criminal history record information that is maintained in the Pennsylvania State Police Central Repository, the commonwealth’s central registry for Protection from Abuse orders, stolen and wanted files and additional other services. CLEAN is Pennsylvania’s conduit to the NCIC, the FBI’s National Crime Information Center, and to NLETS, the National Law Enforcement Telecommunications System.