Commentary Upcoming webinar promises to provide insights on FirstNet-state relationships 17th July 2014 Looking for the latest information about FirstNet and key state initiatives? Join us on Wednesday, July 23, for a “State of the States” webinar to gain insights on key topics from representatives from FirstNet, states and a local-government entity.
News House Democrats call for investigation of anti-competitive allegations against Motorola Solutions 16th July 2014 Three key House Democrats ask U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Inspector General (IG) John Roth to investigate allegations that Motorola Solutions won multiple contracts for public-safety LMR systems funded with federal grants that were not bid competitively or did not promote interoperability with other vendors.
News Voxer intros ‘Walkie Talkie’ push-to-talk mode on smart devices for enterprise use 15th July 2014 Multimedia-messaging application company Voxer today announced the availability of “Walkie Talkie” mode for Voxer Business users that is designed to transform smart iOS and Android devices into push-to-talk (PTT) devices for live communications via IP connectivity.
ITEC: Walt Magnussen highlights potential synergies between next-gen 911 and public-safety LTE 11th July 2014 Walt Magnussen, director of the Texas A&M University Internet2 Technology Evaluation Center (ITEC), outlines the potential benefits of next-generation 911 and public-safety LTE working in concert, as well as some of the challenges to making the vision a reality.
Commentary FirstNet faces monumental challenge as state consultations get set to begin 10th July 2014 To date, FirstNet has done a good job of keeping all of its options available by not making any commitments regarding its business plan or network design. But some key decisions in at least one of these areas will be needed to make significant progress on the other.
News PSCR panel, attendees tackle controversial local-control aspect of proposed FirstNet LTE system 30th June 2014 FirstNet officials have promised that its public-safety LTE system will include local control, but first-responder representatives need to do a lot of work to determine how agencies access the broadband network and who will be given priority during times of network congestion, according to panelists and attendees of a PSCR session on the subject.
Harris: CTO Dennis Martinez talks about the LTE standards process for mission-critical voice 27th June 2014 Dennis Martinez, chief technology officer (CTO) and vice president for public-safety LTE for Harris, explains the company’s position that a mission-critical voice standard should be developed by 3GPP and that the standard needs to enable interoperability with legacy LMR systems.
Video Cisco Systems: Sultan Dawood explains the significance of SDN and NFV in modern networks 27th June 2014 Sultan Dawood, service provider marketing manager for Cisco Systems, describes how service providers are using software-defined-networking (SDN) and network-function-virtualization (NFV) to simplify network systems and reduce costs.
News LA-RICS asks FCC for ‘immediate action’ on waiver request for 700 MHz reserve narrowband channels 26th June 2014 An official for the Los Angeles Regional Interoperable Communications System (LA-RICS) has requested that the FCC take “immediate action” on a longstanding LA-RICS waiver request to use 700 MHz reserve channels for its new P25 network to prevent “substantial delays” and “significant costs” in the deployment of the LMR system.
Video AOptix: Christina Richards discusses company’s approach to providing reliable wireless backhaul links 24th June 2014 Christina Richards, vice president of marketing at AOptix Technologies, explains how her company uses a combination of millimeter-wave and free-space-optics technologies to provide robust wireless backhaul links to support critical communications.
Is LMR the best solution for first responders? Should 4.9 GHz license go to the FirstNet Authority? 24th March 2024
FirstNet Authority reauthorization needed as public-safety-driven network evolution proceeds 16th March 2024