Commentary

3GPP moves Release 18 freeze date to March 2024

The latest set of 3GPP Plenary electronic meetings (e-meetings) concluded on Dec. 19, 2022. The meetings focused on the Release 18 (R18) feature progress and schedule. It was decided to extend the R18 freeze date (specifications complete for all R18 features) by three months to March 2024 to ensure the quality of the R18 3GPP […]

Commentary

Do smart cities make safer cities?

According to the United Nations, two out of three people will live in urban areas by 2050. This increase in city populations will undoubtedly put an even greater strain on government service providers. Faced with the growing demand of residents for increasingly agile and efficient public services, cities must be able to adapt quickly and […]

Commentary

Swatting has serious implications and shouldn’t be ignored

A rash of “swatting” incidents occurred across the country in September. Swatting is the practice of falsely reporting an emergency to elicit a law-enforcement response, ideally one involving the SWAT (special weapons and tactics) team. As an example, Cincinnati-area high school was placed on lockdown when a 911 call was made to report an active-shooter […]

Commentary

Reflections on recent LTE outages

Rogers Communications Canada experienced a national service outage on July 8, 2022, that halted LTE communications for millions of Canadians, including public-safety agencies counting on mobile broadband for operations. In light of this jarring failure, should public-safety leaders rethink plans to collapse all wireless communications onto a single wireless technology platform operated by a service […]

Commentary

Necessity indeed is the mother of invention

An adage regarding the stock market goes something like this: over any 20-year period, the market delivers a return on investment of about 10 percent, but every 20-year period—regardless of when it begins or when it ends—contains peaks and valleys that are driven by market conditions that change often, and often substantially. This adage just […]

Commentary

LTE and liability: Why the fire service must move forward with digital incident command

The grief following a firefighter line-of-duty death (LODD) is beyond words. Fellow firefighters are devastated. Families are shattered. In the aftermath, questions arise about the circumstances: Was the loss preventable? What was the chain of actions leading to the catastrophe? Central to these questions is the role of incident command (IC), the command’s situational awareness, […]

Commentary

Partnership and collaboration must be the foundation for emergency communications

I’m from a little town in West Texas. As a Texan, I like getting straight to the point: I believe that emergency communications are a matter of national security. Because this message is so important, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has designated this April as the first-ever Emergency Communications Month. At CISA, we […]

Commentary

FirstNet success means no hypothetical ‘shots’ need to be fired, Swenson says

As public-safety officials today commemorate the 10-year anniversary of the FirstNet Authority being created, the deployment of the FirstNet nationwide public-safety broadband network (NPSBN) has proceeded well enough that no one needs to face a firing squad, according to former Authority board Chair Sue Swenson. “Save it for another time,” Swenson said during a recent […]

Commentary

Show support for law enforcement on National Law Enforcement Appreciation Day

This coming Sunday, January 9th, is National Law Enforcement Appreciation Day—a well-deserved day to thank and show support to law-enforcement officers for their dedication to duty and service to their local communities, as well as protecting the people who live and work in the communities. On behalf of L3Harris, a Florida-based company that provides critical […]

Commentary

Rethinking mega-event private critical communications after Astroworld

The catastrophic loss of life in November at the Astroworld music festival in Houston is a potent reminder of the special critical-communications needs that should be considered at large venues hosting tens of thousands of participants. Large-scale mega-events—for example, football games, music festivals, and concerts—are not unusual, and many take place safely. But tragedy is […]

Commentary

Commentary

3GPP moves Release 18 freeze date to March 2024

Commentary

Do smart cities make safer cities?

Commentary

Swatting has serious implications and shouldn’t be ignored

Commentary

Reflections on recent LTE outages

Commentary

Necessity indeed is the mother of invention

Commentary

LTE and liability: Why the fire service must move forward with digital incident command

Commentary

Partnership and collaboration must be the foundation for emergency communications

Commentary

FirstNet success means no hypothetical ‘shots’ need to be fired, Swenson says

Commentary

Show support for law enforcement on National Law Enforcement Appreciation Day

Commentary

Rethinking mega-event private critical communications after Astroworld

Commentary

September 3GPP Plenary: 6G officially begins, Release 19 on track

Latest 3GPP standards-development work includes new classes of HPUE, progress on mission-critical services

Is LMR the best solution for first responders? Should 4.9 GHz license go to the FirstNet Authority?

Video

Check out key takeaways from Disaster Management Symposium webinars, register to view archives

Video: Opening of the Expo Hall on day three of IWCE 2023

Lynk CEO Charles Miller: The sky’s the limit

Events

UC Ezines

IWCE 2019 Wrap Up