NCEC Open Discussion Leads to Details and Answers: "Both federal and local emergency response leaders opened the first formal session of the National Conference on Emergency Communications by inviting attendees to share openly their success stories as well as the challenges they face. More than 450 representatives from emergency response organizations are attending the conference, including personnel from the military as well as large and small U.S. communities and Guam, Hawaii, the United Kingdom and Canada.

Although technology was on everyone’s mind, Raymond Orozco, director, Chicago Office of Emergency Management, emphasized that interoperability is about more than radios and computer systems. “We need to make sure that operations drive the technology and not the other way around,” Orozco said. Theodore O’Keefe, deputy superintendent, Chicago Police Department, added that “sometimes interoperability can present daunting challenges for us, challenges that we face every day.”"

PSST responds to 700 MHz waiver requests: "The Public Safety Spectrum Trust (PSST) — the nationwide licensee of public safety's 700 MHz broadband spectrum — recently told the FCC that it supports the idea of local and state entities building networks early on the frequencies, but existing rules need to be changed to make such deployments practical.

In separate waiver requests, the city of Boston, the state of New Jersey and the Bay Area cities — San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose — asked the FCC for permission to pursue the buildout of 700 MHz broadband networks on spectrum licensed to the PSST. In its reply, the PSST reiterated its support for early buildouts if they meet the technical and interoperability requirements of the planned national public-safety network that previously would have been built and maintained by a public/private partnership."

FDNY Chief Cassano: Is New York ready for another 9/11?: "It's been nearly eight years since 9/11, and I wondered if New York was prepared for another large-scale incident. So I called New York City Fire Department Chief Salvatore Cassano and asked him point blank: Can the city respond to another terrorist attack?

Cassano said the FDNY will operate at full capacity if the city again is the target of a terrorist attack. He said a lot has changed since 2001. Overseeing all incidents in the city wasn't an option pre-9/11 because technology was not in place to support large-scale emergency operations. When the planes hit the Twin Towers, the FDNY command center consisted of only a couple of phones and a couple of screens, he said. Response efforts also were hampered by a general inability to share information across local, state and federal agencies."

Florida National Guard trains communications experts for upcoming hurricane season: "The torrential rains in Florida gave a realistic backdrop to National Guard training this week, as Soldiers and Airmen prepared their emergency response efforts for the upcoming hurricane season. More than 100 members of the Florida National Guard completed three week-long courses in northeast Florida May 5-22, learning how to operate mobile Regional Emergency Response Network (RERN) systems."

New York City Wireless Network Goes Live Citywide: "New York City first responders have high-speed wireless connectivity anywhere across the city's more than 300 square miles, thanks to the newly deployed New York City Wireless Network (NYCWiN). The price tag was $500 million, paid to vendor Northrop Grumman to build the network, then operate and maintain it over the next five years. The New York City Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications (DoITT) initiated the project with the vendor in 2006."

DHS creates bonds among first responders: "When first responders across the country have a technology need, they do not turn to vendors for help. These police, fire, emergency medical services and many others depend on the Homeland Security Department's Science and Technology Directorate's Office of Interoperability and Compatibility (OIC).

Luke Berndt, the office's chief technical officer, says OIC has grown into its role as a facilitator. 'We can bring together communities and help them come up with a good description of what kind of capability they want,' Berndt says. 'It has to be broad enough to cover the larger community, and allow for different companies to provide the capabilities and allow for the community to have access to those products.'"

Oregon Statewide emergency communications system proposal faces disconnect: "Lawmakers came to Salem two years ago to find a surprise waiting for them in Gov. Ted Kulongoski's budget: a $665 million communications system that would allow the state's public safety agencies to talk with one another on their radios.

Democrats and Republicans balked at an expensive proposal that state officials had barely explained, let alone justified. Since then, the state's economy has foundered, and legislators are about to make the deepest cuts in a generation to schools, health care, colleges and services to the state's most vulnerable people.

But the radio project -- called the Oregon Wireless Interoperability Network -- lives on."

We will be able to communicate better - Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman: "This week I want to provide an update on a project with great importance - Nebraska’s Public Safety Communications System. Many people have been involved in this effort and we are now moving into the final stages of development.

"Nebraska has been recognized for our efforts in emergency preparedness. We are planning to take a major step forward this year as we prepare to launch a statewide communications system. Providing a way for first responders and other emergency personnel to talk to one another is an essential element for ensuring a coordinated emergency response."

CaaS: Communications-as-a-Service: "What do Web 2.0 social networks, Web conferencing services, and enterprise applications have in common? All three applications are being revolutionized and transformed by adding next-generation voice and rich-media features through CaaS, short for 'Communications-as-a-Service,' a hosted on-demand model for adding communications capabilities to applications and services without upfront capital costs.

CaaS brings social networking, cloud computing, and smartphones together, providing cloud-technologies that let users communicate via voice, text, and rich media on whatever device they prefer to use. To compete in this marketplace, software vendors, enterprises, and service providers must introduce communications-enhanced services that meet a surging need for value, efficiency, cost reduction, and convenience.

To meet these needs, CaaS providers offer cloud-based telecommunications services that can be integrated into software applications and Web services. The idea is new: Vendors can take advantage of this approach -- adding voice services to applications -- by using a standards-based API. CaaS capabilities can include voice-over-IP (VoIP), instant messaging, conferencing, collaboration, and videoconference applications using fixed and mobile devices. The end result of this CaaS-driven process is most commonly referred to as 'communications enabled business processes.'"

Remarks by Secretary Napolitano to the President's National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee: "Anyway, you know, because I thought you could just say: interoperability—come on. What's so hard about this? And have come to appreciate that it is not just a snap of the finger, although I also have come to suspect that it has to be easier than it's being made out to be in the sense of feasibility with the technologies that we do have. So this is an area that we really have on our list at Homeland Security to get this accomplished for once and for all—to have interoperability among first responders in particular should there be either a terrorist attack or a natural disaster that takes out our standard communications equipment."

Interoperable Public Safety Networks Take Many Forms, but What Is Mission Critical?: "Interoperability takes many guises, but the basic concept of communicating between and within U.S. agencies and jurisdictions is an essential issue that's being worked out, albeit slowly. Public safety agencies typically have operated independently, but 9/11 and other events showed the importance of sharing vital information to enable more effective, rapid decision-making.

Unfortunately a large percentage of public safety communities may be woefully unprepared for major incidents. These include emergency medical events; hazardous material spills; terrorist attacks; natural and man-made disasters, such as industrial accidents or structural fires; search-and-rescue operations; and hostage crises. These require a large-scale, multiagency response."

Oregon emergency communications system proposal faces disconnect: "Lawmakers came to Salem two years ago to find a surprise waiting for them in Gov. Ted Kulongoski's budget: a $665 million communications system that would allow the state's public safety agencies to talk with one another on their radios.

Democrats and Republicans balked at an expensive proposal that state officials had barely explained, let alone justified. Since then, the state's economy has foundered, and legislators are about to make the deepest cuts in a generation to schools, health care, colleges and services to the state's most vulnerable people.

But the radio project -- called the Oregon Wireless Interoperability Network -- lives on."

New radios might have avoided injury: "West Chester Township’s [OH] police chief said today that a soon-to-be-completed radio system in Butler County might have helped prevent the communication problems that contributed to the serious injuries suffered by a Lockland police officer during a chase April 20 that started in West Chester and ended in Over-the-Rhine.
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The comments were part of a press conference held this morning by Chief Erik Niehaus to discuss findings from a report that came out over the weekend from the Ohio State Highway Patrol."

Little-known federal law is causing headaches for grant applicants: "Public-safety agencies vying for a portion of the $1 billion available through the Public Safety Interoperable Communications, or PSIC, grant program are encountering an unforeseen roadblock: the National Environmental Policy Act, or NEPA. The law requires that any program that receives federal funds, such as the PSIC — which is administered by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration — must demonstrate that their projects will have no significant detrimental impact to natural and human environments, including those of a cultural nature."