Accelerating Your Transition to NG-911

Blending networks to obtain uninterrupted connectivity can help PSAPs achieve 100% uptime in emergency response to digital communications

In the US, more than 90% of adults own a smartphone. We routinely send texts, take pictures, post videos, and use social media to stay in touch. The ways in which we communicate have had a major impact on all our interactions, including how we engage with public safety services.

In the past three years alone, New York City Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs) received over three million 911 text messages for emergency response, and according to a US report by the National Emergency Number Association (NENA) more than 80% of the estimated 240 million emergency 911 calls made in the US each year are made from wireless devices.

Landlines

This shift is significant and has serious impacts on public safety and defense operations. Most 911 centers in the US still operate on analog technology designed to work with landlines, with little or no provision to deal with text, video, or other digital communications.

According to NENA, PSAPs are being asked to perform functions they were simply not designed for.

When the 911 service was introduced in 1968 it provided an immediate connection to a PSAP to anyone who needed it. It remained largely unchanged until the introduction of Enhanced 911 (or E-911) which added automatic location information of the caller.

Today, the rise in the use of VoIP and mobile phones, instead of landlines, means it is more difficult for PSAPs to pinpoint the exact address of a caller forcing operators to have to triangulate cell towers.

Next Generation 911 (NG-911) aims to upgrade PSAPs across the country to deal with our more mobile networks, and the mandated requirement for PSAPs to upgrade to digital infrastructures is essential to guarantee the safety and security of millions of people every year.

For many emergency support agencies, NG-911 upgrades are challenging and are forcing emergency service providers to rethink entire systems.

Cal OES

The California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) operates 450 PSAPs and deals with more than 26 million 911 calls a year and was struggling to maintain a 100% uptime for its 911 service.

According to Budge Currier, the 911 Communications Branch Manager for the Cal OES, “that’s simply unacceptable in today’s environment.”

The Cal OES has now accelerated its transition to NG-911, improving its active 911 call handling for all backup services across the state. It uses over 200 network aggregation devices from Dejero that seamlessly integrate with the existing Cal OES infrastructure. The network connects with Dejero’s GateWay Cloud Service to route data and deliver resilient back-up connectivity.

Featuring Dejero Smart Blending Technology™, it combines cellular, satellite and broadband connectivity to create a virtual ‘network of networks’. By intelligently managing all these connections in real-time, PSAPs benefit from an uninterrupted connection, which is essential for efficient and lifesaving community response.

This technology has not only made Cal OES systems more resilient – withstanding natural and human-caused disasters – but also more efficient with the ability to deliver emergency calls in less than three seconds, reducing system outages and downtime.

Setting the pace

But we can never stand still.

We’re already planning how to deal with text and video in PSAPs and innovating technologies for a world where there may be no need for a 911 call. What if there is an emergency and the appropriate response teams already know where it is, who is dealing with it, and what the right level of response is, as it is happening?

Technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) can even predict emergency response situations before they happen, adding capabilities beyond the ability of PSAPs to better support disaster management workflows. The increase in wildfires are examples of natural disasters that demand immediate and decisive action, and AI technology is best placed to predict devastating events like this.

When properly implemented, these technologies could help emergency teams respond with the right level of support in a timely fashion and the efficiencies they deliver will increase the adoption rate at an even more accelerated pace.