Month: September 2016

FirstNet Weekly Update to the Public Safety Advisory Committee (PSAC) –September 19, 2016

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FirstNet News

The PSAC Executive Committee (EC) held their annual in-person meeting on Wednesday at FirstNet’s Office of the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) facility. FirstNet Chief Customer Officer (CCO) Rich Reed and CTO Jeff Bratcher joined them to discuss consultation and outreach updates and the role of the CCO as it relates to the future of the PSAC. The EC and the CCO discussed topics for two soon-to-be announced PSAC task teams, activities of the Early Builders Working Group (EBWG), the Tribal Working Group (TWG), and the new Federal Working Group (FWG). On Thursday and Friday, the TWG also held their semi-annual in-person meeting. Rich Reed discussed tribal input to State Plans and the Governor’s decision. Members discussed tribal outreach strategies for the TWG and FirstNet to employ as State Plans begin to take shape.

FirstNet has now completed 40 State Governance Body Consultation Meetings with a meeting in New York last week. FirstNet consulted with the New York State Interoperable & Emergency Communication Board on Tuesday at the Harriman State Campus in Albany. Discussion addressed the specifics of opting in versus opting out, user fees, and the potential for local jurisdictions that might not be high priority to work proactively with FirstNet to speed deployment or improve coverage in their areas. Continue reading →

NASCIO, Grant Thornton and CompTIA Release 2016 State CIO Survey: Survey Results Show State IT Leaders Adapting to Evolving Tech Environment

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ORLANDO, Fla., Monday, September 19 – State CIOs are becoming brokers of technology services rather than providers, as data center consolidation progresses and outsourcing of IT applications and services expands, according to new research released today at the National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) Annual Conference. The Adaptable State CIO, published jointly by NASCIO, Grant Thornton LLP and CompTIA, takes the pulse of how state CIOs are adapting to an evolving technology environment and rapid changes in innovation, business, security, privacy, and the workforce.

“The results of our 2016 survey highlight the critical leadership role of the state CIO,” said Doug Robinson, Executive Director of NASCIO. “As shown in the survey topics, their portfolio is already diverse and new technology and business opportunities will require constant adaptation to serve the needs of state government.” “The state CIO must be increasingly agile as he or she navigates the shifting IT and business landscapes, as well as citizen expectations,” said Graeme Finley, managing director in Grant Thornton’s State and Local Public Sector practice. Continue reading →

OEC Outreach Clips: Wheeler Requests Congressional Help to Spur NG 9-1-1 Nationwide, Source Mission Critical Communications

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FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler continued to request congressional help to improve the quality and accuracy of 9-1-1 in comments before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation. Wheeler said the industry is stepping up to many of the challenges, improving 9-1-1 location accuracy, supporting text to 9-1-1, and generally investing to improve network reliability and resiliency. He said 20 percent of U.S. counties support text to 9-1-1. Read more here: Wheeler Requests Congressional Help to Spur NG 9-1-1 Nationwide

OEC Outreach Clips: Reliable high-speed backhaul vital for delivering mission-critical HD multimedia services to first responders, Source Urgent Communications

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There’s a price to pay for advanced technology that can accomplish this; for mission-critical high-definition (HD) video systems, bandwidth is the price that needs to be paid. Critical to the first responders’ mission, these services need to stream as flawlessly as possible in real time, allowing those in charge to assess what’s happening, so they can dispatch help when and where it’s needed.  The challenge for public-safety organizations is actually twofold: (1) To acquire robust technologies that will stream high-quality images in real time, so they can focus on problems, and (2) to communicate with their people in the field with as little latency as possible. Read more here: Reliable high-speed backhaul vital for delivering mission-critical HD multimedia services to first responders

OEC Outreach Clips: New trade association formed to represent communications interests of non-public-safety government entities, Source Urgent Communications

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A group of industry leaders last week announced the formation of the Government Wireless Technology & Communications Association (GWTCA), a trade association that officials say is being established to represent the communications needs of government public-service entities.  Multiple trade associations and advocacy organizations represent the communications interests of government public-safety and business-industrial entities, but the positions of those groups do not always align with the interests of the non-public-safety government users that GWTCA hopes to represent, according to GWTCA President Chris Lougee. Read more here. New trade association formed to represent communications interests of non-public-safety government entities

OEC Outreach Clips: Nokia Forms Mission Critical Communications Alliance, Source Mission Critical Communications

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Nokia formed the Mission Critical Communications Alliance, a global collaboration of mobile operators, national and local-level public authorities and first response agencies to formalize standards in the use of Long Term Evolution (LTE) for public safety.  The alliance will bring various stakeholders to a single platform with which to inform and guide policymakers on the benefits of LTE-based public-safety solutions for the provision of high-quality and robust critical communications services. More than 10 leading service providers and agencies such as Mobile Radio Center from Japan and Vodafone Hutchison Australia are participating in the program. The alliance will enable new ideas and partnerships to bolster momentum in application of the technology in this area. Read more here: Nokia Forms Mission Critical Communications Alliance

 

OEC Outreach Clips: One Year Later: Hard Lessons From Valley Fire Gird Lake County for Next Disaster, Source Emergency Management/ Press Democrat – CA

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From the moment it began on a Cobb-area property — as a spark, authorities say, from shoddy wiring leading to a hot tub — until firefighters declared it fully contained four weeks later, nearly everything about the Valley fire was overwhelming, according to those who experienced the blaze and fought a heroic battle to slow its spread.  Within hours, there was a flood of refugees — up to 20,000 displaced people at the fire’s peak. In the days that followed there was an outpouring of aid and donations, a volume so great that Lake County Sheriff Brian Martin called it the Valley fire’s “second disaster.” Read more here: One Year Later: Hard Lessons From Valley Fire Gird Lake County for Next Disaster

Andy Seybold’s Public Safety Advocate, September 16, 2016

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Yet MORE Interoperability? For more than thirty years the Public Safety community has been suffering from a lack of contiguous spectrum and many instances of interoperability problems at major incidents. Finally, after 9/11, Katerina, and Sandy, people began to hear and understand the issues and in 2012 after a great effort by the Public Safety community, FirstNet was born. In the meantime, Public Safety systems were being upgraded to P25 digital, and more systems were being combined into regional and even statewide systems. During this same period, less expensive digital systems were being sold into smaller departments that could not afford P25, and many departments have stayed with analog for voice services. FirstNet is about to award a contract to a partner to start construction of the nationwide broadband network, and the FCC has ordered that all voice interoperability channels on VHF, UHF, and 800-MHz will be analog since that is the lowest common denominator for all of the various systems in operation.

Then along comes Potomac Spectrum (http://potomacspectrum.com/) with plans to build out a nationwide TETRA-based Public Safety network that, in reality, would become a shared network with utilities and other types of users. Further, it is promising to be disruptive and make use of a German-based PTT over broadband technology from a company known as TASSTA in order to tie together LTE, existing LMR, and its TETRA network. Just what the United States does not need at this point in time; another company or consortium that wants to come in and be disruptive to the Public Safety community using TETRA, an old voice and slow-speed data technology that is being replaced in the UK, and a push-to-talk broadband system that does not appear to be even remotely compatible with the 3GPP Mission Critical PTT system. Does Potomac Spectrum really expect Public Safety departments will toss out their analog, P25, and LMR radios and replace them all with TETRA equipment? Continue reading →

OEC Outreach Clips: Despite Lawsuit, Plans for N.Y. County Emergency Towers Move Forward, Source EMS World – NY

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Amidst a legal battle over whether Albany County should build a 180-foot emergency communications tower in Rensselaerville, legislators Monday determined proposed towers there and in the neighboring town of Berne won’t hurt the environment. The Albany Legislature declared in a unanimous vote that the county is the lead agency over the environmental review. In the same breath it unanimously approved two declarations that there are no negative environmental impacts in the review, ensuring that at least the tower planned in Berne will move forward shortly. Read more here: Despite Lawsuit, Plans for N.Y. County Emergency Towers Move Forward