Motorola Solutions purchases 911 Datamaster

Motorola Solutions last week bought 911 Datamaster, a private company that provides 911 call-routing solutions that work with both legacy systems and IP-based next-generation 911 (NG911) platforms that leverage GIS-based technology to connect emergency callers to the proper 911 center, according to a company official.

Dan Twohig, Motorola Solutions’ vice president of NG911 call routing, said that Motorola Solutions has a long-standing relationship with 911 Datamaster; in fact, 911 Datamaster has been part of all 26 NG911 contracts that Motorola Solution has today.

“[911 Datamaster is] a great company, mature company,” Twohig said during an interview with IWCE’s Urgent Communications. “They’ve been in place for over 25 years. We view them as the best in the industry, as far as technology related to this, and we’re excited to leverage them even further in our portfolio.”

By using technology from 911 Datamaster, emergency calls are delivered to the proper public-safety answering point (PSAP) more often, which helps speed response times, Twohig said.

“We utilize their software capability to route calls with location data immediately upon the call being processed,” Twohig said. “Whereas with legacy routing for wireless, which uses an estimated location based on the cell tower, our solution with 911 Datamaster routes the call based on the location data of the device immediately.

“What that means is that the call is routed more accurately and delivered to the proper PSAP the first time, rather than having to do a query on the back end … So, it offers more accurate routing upon immediately enabling the call, which results in faster response times, since you deal with fewer transfers and less inaccurate routing due to inappropriate location.”

That eliminates transfers and delays in first responders responding to calls.”

911 Datamaster CEO Scott Krehbiel expressed optimism about the company’s future within Motorola Solutions.

“We are excited to join Motorola Solutions at this critical time in the industry,” Krehbiel said in a prepared statement. “Together, we can deliver advanced NG911 capabilities to modernize call centers with technological advancements that better protect and support their communities.”

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Although 911 Datamaster is now part of Motorola Solutions, there are no expected changes to the day-to-day business of 911 Datamaster, according to Twohig. Products from 911 Datamaster will continue to be available to vendors outside of Motorola Solutions, and 911 Datamaster will maintain its approximately 40 employees and existing operations, including its two main hubs in Overland Park, Kan., and Austin, he said.

Employees should not be concerned about consolidations or layoffs, according to Twohig.

“[There will be] no change to their structure or employee base,” he said. “In the case of location services, we don’t have a competing product to this, so this organization is completely complementary. This acquisition is not about consolidation or combining product lines; this is purely incremental for us. So, we don’t foresee any change to the operation.”

Motorola Solutions already uses 911 Datamaster solutions today—particularly with its VESTA offerings—but Motorola Solutions officials are excited about the long-term prospects of integrating 911 Datamaster’s capabilities into the CommandCentral software suite, Twohig said.

“The ability to leverage the same location-service capabilities throughout that public-safety workflow is an area where we think there is opportunity,” Twohig said. “So, we’ll be looking forward to sharing the technical assets of the company with some of our other product teams and leverage capabilities that they have further into the workflow.”

Twohig described 911 Datamaster as thought leader within the NG911 ecosystem. Combining this NG911 knowledge with legacy 911 experience gained since 911 Datamaster being founded in 1993 may be attractive to PSAPs concerned about migrating to NG911, he said.

“The service has to be maintained and be reliable all the way through the transition, so we see it as a benefit, with their legacy, experience, installed base and track record,” Twohig said. “The finger-pointing [between different companies during a significant technological transition] that can happen isn’t intentional, it’s just that the seams that you have between companies can be complicated, and this [having a PSAP use 911 Datamaster for both legacy 911 and NG911] takes that off the table. So, it makes for a nice, easy transition.”

Given the long relationship between Motorola Solutions and 911 Datamaster, combining the companies is a “perfect fit,” Twohig said.

“Since we’ve worked with them for so long and got to know them through deals and through projects, we saw each other’s track record of performance and rigor of process, as well as the culture of the two companies—it was a natural evolution of our relationship,” Twohig said. “In fact, we’ve had several customers say, ‘Why don’t you guys just come together? You work so well together, and your products are designed to work together.’ It just happened.

“These are the best types of acquisitions when they come together that way, where you’ve proven your compatibility with each other, and your customers see it through their eyes as a success.”