FirstNet News

Ross Announces Five New FirstNet Board Members, Reappointment

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Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross today announced the appointment of five new members of the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) board and the reappointment of board member Neil Cox, the chairman of the board’s Technology Committee.

The appointments bring the board to a full complement of 15 members for the first time since the end of 2016, when Barry Boniface resigned.

“I am proud to announce the selection of these highly qualified new Board members, whose experience in public service and the private sector will ensure FirstNet continues to provide the world-class communications network our emergency responders need,” said Secretary Ross, who last month reappointed Edward Horowitz to the board and designated him as chairman (TR Daily, Sept. 5). “I thank our new members for their willingness to join the Board and guide FirstNet in its mission to save lives and keep our communities safe.”

The five new board members, each of whom was appointed to a three-year term, are: Richard Carrizzo, chief of the Southern Platte Fire Protection District in Kansas City, Mo., and lead fire representative on the policy board that manages the region’s 911 system; Welton Chase Jr., a retired Army brigadier general who led the Army’s largest theater information technology organization, which supported more than 430,000 Army users across 81 data centers in 38 states; Brian Crawford, chief administrative officer of Shreveport, La.; Billy Hewes, mayor of Gulfport, Miss.; and Paul Patrick, division director-Family Health and Preparedness for the Utah Department of Health, past president of the National Association of State EMS Officials, and interim director of the FirstNet board’s Public Safety Advisory Committee. Continue reading →

Esri Introduces ArcGIS Mobile App for FirstNet Ecosystem

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October 22, 2018, The app, Explorer for ArcGIS, provides ArcGIS capabilities to agencies that might otherwise struggle to securely share mapping data.

Public safety and law enforcement agencies that have signed onto FirstNet will now be able to access ArcGIS, Esri’s mapping and spatial analysis technology, within the network’s app ecosystem.

The nation’s dedicated public safety broadband network announced the development of its app ecosystem last May, with AT&T hosting a flurry of hackathons and events to build out the catalog over the past year. The latest announcement — including apps from Esri, Netmotion, PulsePoint and SceneDoc — was made last Thursday.

Esri, which works with more than 350,000 governments and businesses worldwide, initially provided thought leadership and best practice ideas to FirstNet, according to Mike King, the company’s global public safety manager. When FirstNet awarded AT&T it’s contract to build out the public safety network, the working relationship between the two expanded, with Esri offering its APIs and SDKs to the FirstNet “developer” network — a free marketplace for developers to create their own applications.

Read complete article here: https://statescoop.com/esri-introduces-arcgis-mobile-app-for-firstnet-ecosystem

 

Andy Seybold’s Public Safety Advocate, October 25, 2018

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NG9-1-1, FirstNet, and LMR.  In early November, I will be at the International Wireless Communications Expo (IWCE) Critical Communications Conference in Chicago. On the second day, I will be moderating a panel entitled, “LTE’s Interoperability with LMR and 911.” All the panelists are subject-matter experts so I have an easy job as moderator. Preparing for this panel started me thinking about what should be the true goal of an end-to-end public safety communications system. Once Next-Generation 9-1-1 has been widely implemented and the Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs) and dispatch centers have been upgraded, the result should be a near-flawless system from the time a citizen calls 9-1-1 to the last unit on the scene being released and the paperwork completed.

PSAPs or 9-1-1 centers today, in most places, are still voice-centric in nature. The goal of NG9-1-1 is to modernize their capabilities to include incoming text messages, pictures, and videos. These can then be processed, and if needed, sent on to the responding units over FirstNet so those responding will have a better understanding of the incident and/or any vehicles or people fleeing the scene. Unfortunately, NG9-1-1 is the last piece of the puzzle for several reasons. First, many states have and continue to “re-appropriate” funds earmarked for 9-1-1 from all of our phone bills, and when Congress passed the bill that created FirstNet and allocated $7 billion for the initial costs of FirstNet, it only allocated $115 million for NG9-1-1, which is not enough to ensure NG9-1-1 upgrades for all PSAPs and dispatch centers.
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Free Webcast, November 7, 10:00 A.M. PDT on Understanding Grants Process for FirstNet Projects

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Understanding the Grants Process for FirstNet Projects (Part 1)

About this Webinar

Seeking and applying for a grant can be a daunting process. This three-part free webinar series will help state, local, and tribal entities, public safety entities, and public safety consultants navigate and understand the finer aspects entailed in applying for grants.

In Part I, the focus will be upon the steps necessary to complete before submitting the grant application. This webinar series delves into greater detail of all the topics covered previously in the first webinar to enhance the potential for success of a grant application. The subject areas will be reviewed in more detail at a granular level. If you missed the first one, Funding FirstNet Communications Projects with Federal Grants, we encourage you to view the slides prior to this webinar.
Discussion Topics

DEFINE THE FIRSTNET PROJECT
•    What does this look like?
•    What should be considered?
CONDUCT NEEDS ASSESSMENT
•    What and who is needed in the grant?
•    Who should be involved in the process?
RESEARCH FUNDING
•    Where to look for grants and what you need to know before you apply.
•    Mandatory requirements for consideration.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
•    Good to know before you write your grant.

250,000 FirstNet Connections Active at 3,600 Public Safety Agencies

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AT&T, Inc., announced today that more than 250,000 connections at more than 3,600 public safety agencies have been activated on network that AT&T is building for the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet), a nearly 50% increase in agencies signed up in nearly two months. “Much work still needs to be done to make sure FirstNet is a solution that meets the needs of all first responders. But we’re proud of how FirstNet has been delivering for first responders and the communities they serve when help is most needed. And we’re honored to see public safety embrace their network,” said Chris Sambar, AT&T’s senior vice president-FirstNet. A news release emphasized the use of FirstNet during hurricanes Florence and Michael and during other events.

“Recent events continue to underscore the need for FirstNet,” said FirstNet acting Chief Executive Officer Ed Parkinson. “We’re still early in the build process, and we’ll continue to work side-by-side with the public safety community to ensure FirstNet lives up to its promises. But to see FirstNet in action and hear how first responders across the country have already benefitted from the service is a remarkable start and a solid testament to why FirstNet was created.”

Courtesy TRDaily

FCC Dismisses Colorado FirstNet Filing

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The FCC’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau today dismissed as premature a request by the Colorado Public Safety Broadband Governing Body (CPSBGB) that the Commission clarify guidelines and requirements concerning interoperability and roaming between the nationwide public safety broadband network being built by AT&T, Inc., for the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) and wireless carriers (TR Daily, July 9). The order adopted today in PS dockets 16-269, 12-94, and 06-229, and WT docket 06-150 noted that the Colorado Governor’s Office of Information Technology subsequently asked the FCC not to take any action at this time on the CPSBGB’s filing (TR Daily, July 16).

“Consistent with Colorado’s decision to Opt-In to the NPSBN [National Public Safety Broadband Network] on December 18, 2017, the Broadband Office will work collaboratively with the CPSBGB and FirstNet to resolve the concerns raised regarding interoperability and ensure the Colorado first responder community has access to a state of the art communications system,” the latter filing added. “In light of our dismissal of the Request, we also find the filings by other parties supporting the Request to be moot,” today’s order said. “If other parties have concerns that they believe warrant Commission action, they may petition accordingly.”

Courtesy TRDaily

 

Andy Seybold’s Public Safety Advocate, October 4, 2018

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T-Band Revisited, New FirstNet Authority CEO. Just to refresh your memories, the T-Band is the 470–512-MHz spectrum that was allocated to UHF-TV channels 14-20 that has since been made available to both public safety and, in some areas, business Land Mobile Radio (LMR) users. This was implemented in a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) action in 1971 and today there are eleven major metro areas that make use of the T-Band.

When Congress passed the bill authorizing FirstNet it included other provisions as well. One of these was that the T-Band would be available for spectrum auction nine years after the bill was signed. Once the auctions were over, the public safety community would have to vacate the spectrum within another two years. Those in Congress who added this provision to the bill indicated they had to have a “give-back” of some type to help them justify the release of ten additional megahertz of 700-MHz spectrum for public safety. It was not clear in the law who would pay for T-Band users to move off the T-Band nor where the FCC would find spectrum to accommodate them.

Some in Congress at the time FirstNet was passed into law believed FirstNet would be able to absorb all of the existing LMR users in these eleven metro areas. However, as of today, FirstNet is not ready to take over complete public safety-grade services including off-network voice communications and other functions needed by first responders. Therefore, as the deadline approaches, efforts to have Congress review and rescind this portion of the law have been stepped up.

Read the Entire Post Here

Here are the articles I have selected with the help of Discovery Patterns artificial intelligence. Continue reading →

72 Deployables Now Available for FirstNet

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AT&T, Inc., announced today that 72 dedicated deployable assets are now available to the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) system. Some deployables were not delivered as quickly as FirstNet had hoped. AT&T faced a Sept. 30 deadline for ensuring the 72 deployables were in service.

Courtesy TRDaily

Vetting Underway for FirstNet Board Picks

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ORLANDO — The federal government is vetting Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross’s picks for six open seats on the First Responder Network Authority’s (FirstNet) board, National Telecommunications and Information Administration head David J. Redl told reporters today at the Competitive Carriers Association’s Annual Convention here. Mr. Redl noted that candidates must fill out forms on any conflicts of interest, adding, “We’re in the process of finalizing the secretary’s picks through the process.” He said he did not want to guess when that process might be completed.

Courtesy TRDaily