IWCE: Genesis announces Motorola deal, future plans, UK test

LAS VEGAS–Texas-based network-management provider Genesis Group has announced an agreement with Motorola to fully license the control-channel protocol for the industry giant’s proprietary SmartNet and SmartZone 3600 trunking systems.

Through the recent licensing deal, Genesis and Motorola will sell enhancements to Genesis’ GenWatch3 solution that let administrators of the trunking systems inhibit radios, deliver call alerts and regroup radios, Genesis Group President Phil Burks said. The Genesis software provides modern replacements for Motorola’s discontinued SIMSII, SIP and SystemWatch network management software.

“This is a great leap for Genesis,” Burks said in a statement. “Despite the movement that is happening toward P25 systems, there are still thousands of SmartNet and SmartZone trunked systems that will be in use for years to come since they continue to reliably work every day”

While Genesis software traditionally has been implemented primarily in Motorola systems, Burks said Genesis has branched out to work with other vendors’ systems, including the P25 networks developed by EADS—a capability that was exhibited at the APCO Canada show last year. Burks said he hopes to propose the solution as the basis of a network-management interface standard that enables the collection of performance-analysis information.

“We’re basically taking what goes out into the air over the common-air interface and making it come out over an Ethernet or TCP/IP port,” Burks said during an interview with MRT. “The goal is to suggest it to TIA as a standard for the network-management interface.

“Genesis has worked with EADS and other P25 infrastructure vendors to develop a standard, open network-management interface. We have a working solution with EADS for that right now.”

In the United Kingdom, Genesis software is being deployed in the nationwide Airwave TETRA system. Early this year, the Metropolitan Police Service in London was the primary participant in a test during which Genesis solutions provided “enormous amounts of data,” Burks said.

“The reports have found very positive ways for Airwave to improve its network, as well as ways for the MPS and other forces on the network to improve their operations,” he said. “Genesis software is able to provide information to allow network operators to have more uptime on their sites on the Airwave network. It quickly identifies network issues, so they can be addressed sooner.”

An ongoing agreement in principle is in place to deploy this solution throughout the UK, with the deal expected to be completed during the first half of this year, Burks said. If realized, Genesis would be supporting a network that consists of 49 zones and more than 3000 sites that support more than 200,000 subscriber units.