News California fire district leveraging FirstNet, BeOn PTT from L3Harris to save significant LMR costs 20th April 2020 One rural California fire district plans to lower its future LMR capital costs about 60% by supplementing its VHF radio system with BeOn push-to-talk service from L3Harris delivered over FirstNet as part of a local public-private partnership that includes sharing tower sites, according to the fire chief spearheading the plan. Frank Frievalt, fire chief of […]
Partner content Will 5G buildout slow or accelerate in the COVID-19 era? 19th April 2020 While COVID-19 has ground the economy to a halt in many corners of the U.S., the picture for 5G buildout could flourish long term, with caveats, say industry watchers. 5G may take a hit in the short and medium term given spread of COVID-19 globally and resulting supply chain disruption, 5G hardware delays and general effects of […]
Partner content Utility giant Ameren moving forward with private LTE network 18th April 2020 For the past two years, utility provider Ameren has been testing a private LTE network with equipment from Nokia and CommScope and spectrum from AT&T and Anterix. Now company officials are increasingly hinting that Ameren is preparing to shift from the testing phase to the deployment phase. “Ameren envisions a future where broadband plays a […]
Partner content Ericsson shows unease as coronavirus crisis continues 17th April 2020 Two weeks into the second quarter and Ericsson has started to pepper its investor updates with vaguely unsettling words like “implication” and “mitigation.” Due to publish its first-quarter results next week, the Swedish equipment maker has clung to short-term guidance of “limited to no impact on customers” from COVID-19. Beyond the March-ending period, the outlook […]
News COVID-19 realities forcing fire chiefs to propose significant budget cuts 17th April 2020 Fire chiefs through the western United States are being asked to propose budget cuts between 10% and 25% for their departments—often including EMS service—as local governments try to fund operations in the face of dramatic tax-revenue declines caused by stay-at-home measures designed to slow the spread of COVID-19. “We’re hearing that, broad-based across the West, […]
Partner content 5G promises much but can’t answer all autonomous-vehicle (AV) questions 16th April 2020 The connected, 5G future has many promises that come with big demands. As the next generation in mobile connectivity it offers the capability to process terabytes of data per hour, enable faster over-the-air updates and some proponents of the technology say they can achieve this with near-zero latency. Yet the question remains can they? Let’s […]
News Catalyst announces LMR-LTE interoperability platform 16th April 2020 Catalyst Communications Technologies this week announced a new interoperability platform that is designed to link 3GPP-standard mission-critical-push-to-talk (MCPTT) services over LTE with a variety of land mobile radio (LMR) systems, including P25, DMR, NXDN and proprietary technologies, according to Catalyst President Robin Grier. “What we’re building is really a standards-based interworking solution for FirstNet and […]
Audio Pryme: Dave George discusses new accessories, industry trends 14th April 2020 Pryme CEO Dave George outlines his company’s new products such as Bluetooth accessories and provides his perspective on industry direction, including which use cases are proving most popular for push-to-talk-over-cellular (PoC) deployments.
News Newscan: AT&T supports nurses and physicians with three months of free FirstNet service with Mobile-Responder plan 14th April 2020 Web Roundup Items from other news organizations Coronavirus app from Apple and Stanford aimed to help first responders How Apple and Google are enabling COVID-19 contact tracing COVID-19 shines light on 911’s importance IBM offers COBOL help for government deal with crisis Apple and Google want to turn your phone into a COVID-19 tracking machine […]
Partner content Ford and VW cars open to hackers, research claims 14th April 2020 Cybersecurity researchers are claiming some current connected Ford and Volkswagen vehicles are easy targets for malicious hackers. The report researched by cyber consultancy Context Information Security and published by consumer magazine Which?, claims to have identified serious security, data privacy and safety concerns in the leading car brands. Investigators looked at the Ford Focus Titanium Automatic […]
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