The FCC’s Task Force on Optimal PSAP Architecture (TFOPA) today approved the final two next-generation 911 (NG-911) reports from its working groups and is eying a vote at a meeting next month on a consolidated report that includes the work of all three working groups. At the December 10 meeting, the task force approved a 122-page report from its architecture working group (working group 2) and a 75-page report from its cybersecurity working group (working group 1). In September, the panel voted on a report from its resource allocation working group (working group 3). It plans to meet Jan. 29, 2016, to vote on a consolidated report that includes all three working group reports.
“We’re coming around third base and heading for home,” said Steve Souder, the TFOPA’s chair and director of the Fairfax County, Va., Department of Public Safety Communications.
The architecture report, which stresses the need for collaboration among all stakeholders in the 911 ecosystem and says NG-911 technology can enable system sharing better than legacy solutions, includes “findings and considerations,” which include recommendations, in the areas of policy/regulation, governance, architecture and technology, standards and best practices, and education and training.
“As stated throughout this report, it was not the intent of the Working Group to recommend a particular configuration for the deployment of NG9-1-1, therefore the report is absent a ‘one-size fits all’ architectural recommendation,” it said. “The Working Group did feel it important to identify key ‘Findings and Considerations’ contained in the report that 9-1-1 Authorities might consider to assist in the planning and deployment of a NG9-1-1 system.”
“Providers of 9-1-1 services must be accountable for the reliability of their services, and vendor contracts, buttressed by state-sanctioned tariffs where needed, can provide an effective means to address the availability and reliability of 9-1-1 service,” the report said. “The legacy single 9-1-1 service provider environment upon which most of the current 9-1-1 regulation was formed will need to be readdressed in the current NG9-1-1 market. Regulations that addressed needs in the legacy 9-1-1 world need to be reevaluated to determine if they are still relevant and, in some cases, may create unnecessary barriers to transition to NG9-1-1.”
The report also said that “existing statutes and regulations vary widely among jurisdictions. Therefore, it will be important to assess to what extent they allow the implementation of new technologies and optimizations such as the sharing of resources and merger of PSAP operations. Any significant differences will have to be addressed before any formal action can be taken toward sharing resources.”
“Effective communications and coordination among political leaders, public safety agency leadership, and the general public will be important in addressing concerns and managing expectations of all stakeholders,” the report stressed. “In this process, both legislative and regulatory arrangements at all levels of government that extend oversight into the 9-1-1 environment may require reexamination and some existing statues, policies, rules and regulation will certainly require modification in order to effectively support NG9-1-1 implementations.”
The report also said that additional “enhancements to the governance/regulation of 9-1-1 systems and services should be developed by an advisory committee comprised of organizations such as NARUC, NASNA, NENA, APCO, and other organizations representing state, local, regional 9-1-1, and industry officials, whose recommendations would be augmented by public comment.”
Education and training also are important, according to the report. “Comprehensive outreach and education for both 9-1-1 stakeholders and the public is critical to the effectiveness and overall acceptance of all aspects of NG9-1-1,” it said. “PSAPs, the public safety community, and their governmental entities must fully communicate the challenges, the needs and requirements of the envisioned transition including the identification of adequate capital and sustainment funding of the transitional and end state NG9-1-1 technology implementation.”
On the technical side, the report cited, for example, several models for deploying ESInets: local, shared-hosted, hybrid, and contracted-managed. “A primary message in this report is that NG9-1-1 architecture can be customized to support almost any configuration of PSAP operations,” it said. “Factors that affect these configurations include financial, political, governmental and operational considerations. The overall goal of this report is that the reader will have a better understanding of NG9-1-1, its components, capabilities, deployment options, and potential benefits. Armed with this understanding, 9-1-1 Authorities and decision-makers will be able to apply that knowledge to ongoing objective and collaborative dialogues that will enable them to craft a NG9-1-1 plan that meets the needs of their jurisdictions.”
During the meeting, David Simpson, chief of the FCC’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau, stressed the value of the report to state and local officials. “I think it will be a phenomenal resource for local and state decision-makers,” he said.
The report also recommended follow-on work by the TFOPA next year on topics such as potential transition costs, early developer use cases, access for people with speech and hearing disabilities, and the integration of applications that provide access to the 911 system.
While the FCC established the TFOPA to generate recommendations to the FCC on optimal architectures for PSAPs, its charter does not expire until December 2016. Follow-on work by the panel is expected.
As for the cybersecurity report, a key recommendation of working group 1 is the creation of Emergency Communications Cybersecurity Centers (EC3).
“In the proposed NG9-1-1 architecture, the Emergency Communications Cybersecurity Center (EC3) will take on the role of providing IDPS [intrusion detection and prevention services] services to PSAPs and any other emergency communications service or system that would consider utilizing the centralized, core services architecture proposed,” the report said. “For example, not only PSAPs but Emergency Operations Centers (EOCs) and potentially the Nationwide Public Safety Broadband Network operated and maintained by FirstNet, could also interconnect to the EC3 service. This approach would allow public safety to build one infrastructure and use it for many clients. This provides significant economies of scale, puts multiple Federal, State, Local and Tribal resources into the same protection scheme, and allows for sharing of data, mitigation strategies, and recovery efforts across enterprise.”
The report also outlined various cyber best practices, including the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s framework, the NICE (National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education) framework, identity credentialing access management, and Communications Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council’s best practices related to public safety. It also discussed best practices such as cybersecurity checklists.
The report also warned that the threat of cyber attacks to PSAPs is very real. “As Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) 9-1-1 networks transition from TDM-based to IP-based architecture, as part of the migration to Next Generation 9-1-1 (NG9-1-1), they will face increasing exposure to cyber threats and vulnerabilities that did not exist in the legacy 9-1-1 environment,” the report said. “To date, however, the overall approach to NG9-1-1 network security has been lacking in clear direction or architectural definitions.”
The report also said, “The working group believes that a lack of cybersecurity poses a clear and present danger to the PSAP and emergency communications system(s) in the United States. Creation of some core services, which provide single points of contact, direct reporting, awareness, and data sharing, and real time response to cyber attacks at multiple levels of government is essential to the success of our efforts to defend next generation networks and systems.”
At today’s meeting, Jay English, who chaired working group 1 and is director-comm center and 911 services for the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials-International, said the vast majority of PSAPs are not aware of cyber threat to their systems and are not ready for them. “The approach is spotty at best,” he added. – Paul Kirby, paul.kirby@wolterskluwer.com
Courtesy TRDaily