Next Generation 911: A New World for PSAP Network Maintenance

 In Summary:

• Next Generation 911 will improve emergency response dramatically, but will bring challenges that require new approaches and skill sets.

• Network and systems management will become considerably more complicated after an NG911 system has been implemented.

• Many PSAPs lack the IT expertise to adequately monitor and protect and NG911 system.

Next generation 911 (NG911) will result in a quantum leap forward for emergency response, but there will be operational impacts that public safety answering point (PSAP) managers will have to address. Many of those concern PSAP network and systems management, which becomes considerably more complicated after an NG911 system has been implemented.

In an NG911 world, PSAPs will have to take proactive steps to manage, monitor and secure next generation 911 networks and systems to ensure their sustainability. For instance, management of, and accountability for a 911 center's emergency services Internet Protocol network (ESInet) and Next Generation Core Services (NGCS), which are the main components of an NG911 system, will be owned by the 911 authority instead of the telco like it has been in the past. Maintaining geospatial information system (GIS) data will be the responsibility of the PSAP. And, last but not least, NG11 environments are far more susceptible to cyber attacks from inside and outside the PSAP than in a legacy environment.

This whitepaper discusses the following:

• Challenges that will come with NG911 implementation
• The major changes that will impact 911 centers from a systems management aspect
• The most critical steps a PSAP manager should take to protect modern, IP-based systems and technology

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