MCP Provides Expertise to Lubbock, TX ECD

Today the district has a new emergency services Internet Protocol network (ESInet), new hosted 911 call-routing and call-handling capabilities, and more.

MCP Gives Lower Rio Grande Development Council Peace of Mind About Its Communications Network

In Summary:

• The Lower Rio Grande Development Council, which is a voluntary association of local governments formed under Texas law as one of the state's 24 regional councils of governments (COGs), serves the region's counties by delivering 911 emergency calls to 18 emergency communications centers (ECCs).
• They operate a Internet Protocol (IP)-based network is generally more vulnerable to outages compared to legacy networks and systems.
• The Council turned to Mission Critical Partners in 2019 to help diminish the risk of network/system failures and keep the 911 network and its supporting systems operating optimally by providing network management and monitoring services.

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Background: 

Current and Future State of Cybersecurity in Public Safety Panel Discussion

In this on-demand webinar from Mission Critical Partners' virtual Conference for Advancing Public Safety hosted in June, hear from government leaders who have lived through an attack, as well as from public safety agency leaders who are taking aggressive steps to prevent attacks during an engaging panel discussion moderated by Glenn Bischoff.

Use the form below to download the on-demand webinar.

On-Demand Webinar: How to Prioritize Your Cyberrisk Prevention Efforts During COVID-19

The number of cybersecurity offerings available for government agencies to implement are increasing in quantity and complexity. Many of the solutions available in today’s market come with a considerable price tag. Prevention solutions range from password policies, centralized ID management, multi-factor authentication, penetration testing, and more. During this webinar, we’ll outline some of the tools, utilities and service you should consider deploying, especially during a time such as COVID-19 where security is more vulnerable.

A Blueprint to Help Public Safety Organizations Understand Their Environments

 In Summary:

• For public safety officials, the task of monitoring and assessing the myriad technological and operational factors that determine the center's success or failure is a big, complicated and time-consuming job.

• Leaders need help understanding where their centers stand regarding factors such as cybersecurity, IT and networks, next generation 911 (NG911), staffing, and more.

• MCP's Model for Advancing Public Safety^SM, also known as MAPS^SM, is a proprietary assessment program that helps assess a program against standards, best practices, and the collective knowledge of MCP's 115+ specialized public safety professionals.

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On-Demand Webinar: Mission-Critical Vendor Management 101

The average mission-critical agency oversees more than 30 different vendors responsible for various network systems and operations. Agencies are more dependent on vendors than ever before and, as result, their spend and risk continues to increase and their satisfaction continues to decrease. During this webinar, we discuss steps that can be taken to improve vendor performance and drive more value from your agency's vendor agreements.

Discussion topics include:

Infographic: Network Management: 10 Facts Every PSAP Should Know

Most public safety organizations are unaware of every network, system, component and device used by their agency, and most do not maintain up-to-date inventories of their network and system infrastructure. MCP can maintain applications and keep networks secure, stable and running efficiently.

Infographic: Tips for Evaluating Vendor Proposals

Evaluation of proposals and award of a project are not the last steps of the request for proposals process, but they are some of the most important. This infographic outlines tips to keep in mind as you prepare for evaluation and throughout the evaluation process.

 

How to Navigate the Complexities of Mission-Critical Vendor Management

In Summary:

• Today's average public safety agency has more than 30 vendor support agreements to manage.

• Vendor support agreements have become more difficult to understand given their size and complexity.

• Public safety organizations are looking for strategies to help navigate the complexities associated with today's increasingly complicated vendor environment.

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It used to be much easier for public safety agencies to manage their vendors compared to a decade ago. At that time they were simple and easy to understand and they generally only involved the radio, computer-aided dispatch (CAD) and 911 call-handling system providers.

On-Demand Webinar: The Top Strategic Public Safety Trends for 2019

There are several significant, disruptive technology and operations trends that Mission Critical Partners feels will set the stage for the future of public safety over the next three to five years. Public safety agencies must understand these trends, begin preparing for them now, and understand how to adjust their operations in order to adapt. They are trends that cannot afford to ignored.

Pennsylvania Region 13: A Holistic Approach to Network Management for Less

In Summary:

• Region 13 Task Force in Southwestern Pennsylvania covers a population of 3 million people and 713 public safety agencies.

• The Region needed a cost-effective, yet reliable, network maintenance solution to monitor its IP-based emergency services Internet Protocol (IP)-based network (ESInet).

• MCP's provides the region with network maintenance and monitoring services from MCP to help them realize single-sourced, proactive and reliable network monitoring and maintenance, triage and support from one partner at the fraction of the cost of working with multiple vendors.

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Overview and Agency Challenge

Region 13 designed and implemented a regional, interoperable Emergency Services Internet Protocol (IP) network (ESInet) in 2012 with the help of Mission Critical Partners (MCP). A robust and complex network constructed of dark-fiber meshed from multiple vendors and microwave hops on a Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) router platform, the ESInet serves all 9-1-1 public safety answering points (PSAPs) and emergency operations centers (EOCs) in the region, as well as public safety radio and video applications. The ESInet’s mission-critical nature requires a network management and oversight solution that ensures the highest level of reliability and uptime while keeping operating costs manageable.

Florida County Gains 911 Network Visibility with MCP's Co-Managed IT Platform

In Summary:

• Lee County, Florida 911 officials were not satisfied with the network maintenance they were received from their technology vendors
• MCP provides ongoing IT support for Lee County via an online dashboard that is intended to provide a real-time network diagram and information on active alarms and ticket status, as well as reporting capabilities.

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Overview and Agency Challenge

Maintaining network up time during large-scale disasters like Hurricane Irma and during normal operations was top of mind for Lee County, Florida officials. Despite several 911 vendors providing 911 network monitoring services, Lee County officials weren’t satisfied with the level of service they were receiving. They sought greater clarity on network activity, more customization (instead of an off-the-shelf solution), and a mechanism for identifying current and historic network activities.