The Mission-Critical Resource Center

Public Safety Should Look Hard at Mission-Critical Push-to-Talk

In Summary:

• Push-to-talk over celluar (PTTOC) and mission-critical push-to-talk MCPTT services are provisioned over broadband wireless services and replicate the walkie-talkie functionality of traditional land mobile radio (LMR) portable radios.

• Through gateways, these services can be interfaced with LMR networks to allow audio to be transmitted from LMR channels to the broadband application, and vice versa.

• They offer a good alternative for personnel who have no need for a digital radio on a daily basis but need to be provided situational awareness and coordinated incident command.

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This whitepaper examines push-to-talk over celluar and mission-critical push-to-talk technology, explaining why they may be a better choice than LMR in some cases, and how they provide significantly more flexibility regarding application, device and network choices. The biggest benefit of MCPTT service is that it replicates the PTT functionality of traditional LMR systems on devices that are smaller, lighter and much less expensive than portable radios traditionally carried by first responders. Also examined are important factors to consider when deciding whether to implement the technology.

On-Demand Webinar: Making the Case for 5G in Public Safety Communications

Fifth-generation (5G) wireless communications has the ability to accommodate the fast-growing demand for bandwidth required for the delivery of multimedia content, including video, images and social media, to PSAPs. During this webinar, MCP subject-matter experts discusses how 5G can help improve emergency response and what it means for communities and public safety organizations alike.

Discussion topics during this session include:

• Why 5G is critical to evolving emergency response
• The types of platforms and data 5G will support
• How implementation of 5G will impact municipalities
• Steps you can take to prepare your public safety organization

On-demand webinar length: 45 minutes 

Infographic: The Possibilities of a Converged FirstNet and NG911 Public Safety System

See the possibilities of a converged FirstNet and NG911 public safety system with this infographic from Mission Critical Partners.

911 Call-Handling System Procurement and Implementation Support in San Francisco

In Summary:

• The San Francisco Department of Emergency Management sought a robust, modern call-handling solution and needed guidance defining requirements, as well as during the procurement and implementation process.

• In 2017, they hired Mission Critical Partners to help them build requirements, and to support the agency's implementation efforts.

• The new call-handling solution has played a role helping 911 call-answering times improve.

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"MCP's guidance during the procurement stage was invaluable. Their familiarity working with 911 call-handling system vendors and their knowledge of the newest technology and vendors available played an essential role helping us feel more comfortable with the requirements-gathering and RFP process."

Jun Chen, PMO Manager, City and County of San Francisco

Overview and Agency Challenge

The city of San Franscisco Department of Emergency Management (DEM) sought a robust, modern call-handling system that would support its 42 call-taking positions. A second requirement was a path to a National Emergency Number Association (NENA) i3-compliant system and meeting public safety standards for performance and reliability. They looked for a partner that could provide guidance defining requirements, as well as during the procurement and implementation process.

MCP Helps the Imperial Valley Pursue PSAP Regionalization

In Summary:

• Imperial County, CA is served by four public safety answering points (PSAPs) that provide call-taking and dispatching services for the Imperial Valley.
• In 2017, they hired Mission Critical Partners to help them determine if physical regionalization made sense.
• MCP provided a comprehensive feasibility study that made a recommendation to transition its four PSAPs into two mutually supporting PSAPs.

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"With MCP's help, we've identified the issues and challenges that stand between us and a successful regionalization effort. Now that we know it could work for us, we need to determine how to make it a reality and execute on that plan."

Mark Schmidt, Emergency Communications Project Coordinator, Imperial County Communication Authority, Imperial County, California

Overview and Agency Challenge

Imperial Valley, California, is served by four public safety answering points (PSAPs) that provide call-taking and dispatching services for the Imperial Valley. The Imperial Valley Communications Authority (IVECA), in conjunction with the San Diego County Regional Communications System , provides public safety voice and data communications to more than 200 local, state and federal agencies in San Diego and Imperial counties.

The County’s PSAPs were already sharing technology resources, but wanted to figure out if sharing services also made sense in terms of staffing and maintenance costs.

On-Demand Webinar: FirstNet and NG911 Convergence: The New Public Safety Communications Platform

Over the next 5-10 years, FirstNet will deploy the Nationwide Public Safety Broadband Network (NPSBN). As a parallel process, emergency services IP networks will be built to provide interconnectivity between PSAPs to allow for deployment and utilization of Next Generation 911 (NG911) technologies by PSAPs across the nation. In this session, MCP examines the major issues involved with the transition to this new platform for public safety communications and provide a glimpse into what the emergency communications environment could look like in the next 10-20 years. 

What's the Future of Land Mobile Radio in a FirstNet World?

In Summary:

• Many public safety agencies have pondered whether the Nationwide Public Safety Broadband Network (NPSBN), being implemented by the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) will someday replace the land mobile radio systems that have traditionally provided mission-critical voice services.

• Agencies should continue to invest in their LMR systems, even to the point of replacing them if necessary.

• Government agencies should continue to track the progress of FirstNet, for the day will eventually come when the NPSBN has developed to the point that it is a viable alternative for LMR.

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On-Demand Webinar: Radio Interoperability and the Role of FirstNet

This on-demand webinar explores the concept of radio interoperability, which is an essential and fundamental component of effective first responder communications. Topics of discussion include interoperability tools and methods, technologies available on the market today, as well as what agencies should should consider when improving interoperability. Also discussed is how interoperability doesn't stop with technology, and the role that operations, training and planning plays in achieving true interoperability.

In this webinar we discuss:

• Why the industry isn't there yet from an interoperability standpoint
• What has been done to date
• Roadblocks to interoperability
• The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Interoperability Continuum
• The role of FirstNet

MCP Provides Vendor Support Services in Cobb County, GA to Drive Service Excellence and Cost-Savings

In Summary:

• Cobb County, Georgia public safety officials wanted to assure they were paying a fair price for support of their land mobile radio (LMR) system.

• Working alongside MCP, they completed a fair market pricing assessment and data-driven analysis for the LMR system maintenance costs.

• Armed with this information, the partnership was able to negotiate more favorable cost targets, enhanced system performance reports and significant savings on costs.

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Overview and Agency Challenge

Looking to lower expenses without sacrificing support, Cobb County, Georgia, began exploring the possibilities of renegotiating their Project 25 (P25) land mobile radio system maintenance agreement with the vendor. They wanted to better understand the services, terms and conditions, and the associated costs included with the maintenance contract. With limited knowledge of how their fees compared to similar-sized systems in the public safety sector, they sought assurance they were paying a fair price for the support provided.

The Technical Evolution of the PSAP in a NG911 and Public Safety Broadband Environment

In Summary:

• Data inputs that stream into a public safety answering point (PSAP) are increasing significantly, driven by the fact that public safety broadband and next generation 911 systems are Internet Protocol (IP)-based.

• This will raise situational awareness in the PSAP to levels unimaginable only a short time ago.

• Public safety broadband and NG911 must be converged for data to flow seamlessly between these two networks in order to be fully harnessed.

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When public safety broadband networks, such as the Nationwide Public Safety Broadband Network being implemented under the auspices of the First Responder Network Authority, and Next Generation 911 (NG911) systems are implemented, responding to emergency events will be dramatically different than it is today for the public safety community. Today, the amount of information that telecommunicators and first responders have is severely limited. In the future, the data inputs that data inputs that stream into a public safety answering point (PSAP) are increasing significantly, driven by the fact that public safety broadband and next generation 911 systems are Internet Protocol (IP)-based.

The Nationwide NG911 Transition Requires State-Level Coordination and Vision

In Summary:

• Today's legacy public safety communications systems are ill-suited to handle this increased data flow.

• States that are making the most progress towards NG911 adoption share two main characteristics: strong statewide coordination and a statewide 911 strategic plan.

• There are eight key areas that 911 state leaders should evaluate to identify potential deficiencies of a statewide 911 program.

Next Generation 911 (NG911) represents a significant leap forward for the emergency response sector primarily because it will deliver dramatically improved situational awareness to telecommunicators and field personnel. But the transition from legacy technology to NG911 is a difficult undertaking, especially when states try to go it alone. NG911 will require that state 911 authorities establish an effective leadership structure and then develop a comprehensive strategic plan to execute the migration.

On-Demand Webinar: Strategies to Mitigate Cybersecurity Risks in Today's Emergency Communications Center

In today's increasingly IP-based network environment, some of the biggest threats facing 911 call centers are unplanned network or application disruptions. These outages can be caused by hardware or circuit failures—or worse a targeted cyber attack—and gaps in support agreements and slow vendor response times can increase their severity. As a result, troubleshooting falls on the shoulders of PSAP management.

In this on-demand webinar, we discuss how PSAP network management is changing and how agencies must adjust to alleviate their risk.

In this webinar, you'll learn:

• Why PSAP leadership is becoming more involved and taking on more responsibility when it comes to supporting public safety infrastructure
• The critical factors impacting network reliability and continuity of operations in the PSAP
• Common mistakes that are made in PSAP network management, and how they can be avoided
• Key strategies for reducing the risk of cyber attack

On-demand webinar length: 45 minutes