News UK officials revamp ESN plans again, target Airwave-to-LTE transition for end of 2026 8th June 2021 United Kingdom (UK) first responders are expected to use the TETRA-based Airwave system owned by Motorola Solutions for at least five more years, as the end of 2026 is the new target date for transitioning to the much-delayed, over-budget Emergency Services Network (ESN), according to a Home Office official. Home Office Permanent Secretary Matthew Rycroft […]
Audio PSCR: Dereck Orr highlights features of June 21-24 virtual event 4th June 2021 Dereck Orr, chief of the Public Safety Communication Research (PSCR) division within the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), highlights key features of this year’s annual stakeholder meeting, PSCR 2021: The Digital Experience. Scheduled for June 21-24, this year’s event again will be conducted online, with 70-plus presentations, more interactive sessions, virtual demonstrations […]
News FirstNet buildout on pace for March 2023 completion, AT&T official says 4th June 2021 AT&T expects to finish its contracted five-year FirstNet buildout on Band 14 spectrum by the scheduled March 2023 deadline, but the carrier likely will not complete deployment significantly earlier, because most of the remaining cell sites are in some of the most challenging locations to service, according to an AT&T official. Jason Porter, AT&T’s president […]
Partner content Bell Canada is latest telco to succumb to AWS at the edge 3rd June 2021 Besides death and taxes, the two greatest certainties in life today are that news headlines will mention a previously unrecognized coronavirus mutation with vaccine-evading potential and that public cloud companies will continue their unstoppable drift into telecomland. Sure enough, in the same week, the UK’s Daily Mail screamed panic about a Nepalese COVID-19 variant and AWS notched […]
Partner content The Colonial Pipeline attack is your boardroom wake-up call 3rd June 2021 Our approach to national cybersecurity is broken. And this didn’t just happen recently — cybersecurity has been broken for decades. The ransomware attack against the Colonial Pipeline system occurred almost 17 years to the day after I testified before the Senate Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology, and Homeland Security on cyber-risks facing critical infrastructure, particularly the industrial control […]
News Florida governor approves budget with no-bid P25 funding earmarked for L3Harris 3rd June 2021 Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis yesterday signed the $100 billion budget for the state that includes funding for L3Harris Technologies to upgrade the Statewide Law Enforcement Radio System (SLERS) to P25 technology and enable interoperability with the FirstNet nationwide public-safety broadband system (NPSBN). DeSantis used his line-item veto power to nix several items from the budget […]
Partner content How blockchain technology can benefit the Internet of Things 2nd June 2021 Blockchain technology has already gone through a peak of hype, then a “trough of disillusionment,” but it may be on an upward climb again. While the roller-coaster ride of cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin have also cast aspersions on blockchain technology –and it has—recent events such as COVID-19 and its impact on the connected economy has created new […]
News Cybersecurity for U.S. critical infrastructure a ‘national-security imperative,’ NSC official says 1st June 2021 Protecting U.S. critical infrastructure from the often-debilitating impacts of cyberattacks is a “national imperative” that will require cooperation between the government and private sector, according to Brian Scott, director of critical-infrastructure cybersecurity for the National Security Council (NSC). Scott said variety of sources—nation-states, state-sponsored actors and cybercriminals—are responsible for the cyberattacks, and many of the […]
Partner content Germany takes aim at driverless-tech dominance 1st June 2021 Germany is the first country in the world to legalize fully autonomous vehicles on public roads. The landmark legislation passed both the lower and upper chambers of Germany’s parliament last week with a comfortable majority. The legislation will allow Level 4 autonomous vehicles to operate on public roads in Germany without drivers behind the wheel […]
Partner content A wrench and a screwdriver: Critical infrastructure’s last, best lines of defense? 1st June 2021 For decades, security experts have warned that America’s critical infrastructure is at risk for cyberattacks. Yet, despite seemingly endless conversations, ongoing debate, and escalating concerns, modernization is slow and protections continue to lag. When the Colonial Pipeline breach took place, it was as predictable as it was frightening. The ransomware attack shut down the pipeline for six […]
Latest 3GPP standards-development work includes new classes of HPUE, progress on mission-critical services 22nd April 2024
Is LMR the best solution for first responders? Should 4.9 GHz license go to the FirstNet Authority? 2 24th March 2024