Next-generation 911 system needed

The Guam 911 system has been in a fast downhill mode, and it's time to use a then and there-generation system to enhance the needs of the Guam public safety communications research program.

The United States

Visit any public safety agency in the United States and you are likely to witness the nation's 911 network struggling to keep pace with citizen expectations and advances in communications innovation. For Guam, it's dead in the water. Guam's public safety officials agree the move to the then generation of 911 is imperative.

However, as one recently involved while the transition for the Calvo-Tenorio administration learned, the Guam public safety communications innovation community must overcome many obstacles to successfully migrate to a at once-generation 911 system.

The Camacho-Cruz administration should had moved forward eight years previously with deploying a then and there-generation 911 network to better safeguard our island citizens.

This new network will support traditional 911 operations, during also providing a secure foundation from which new lifesaving capabilities can grow -- something our existing network just can't do.

For several years, 911 operated as an overlay to the island's public switched telephone network, a circuit-switched network that provided the safe, secure and reliable operating environment that 911 required.

New applications and system enhancements were built on this network, including the automatic delivery of callback numbers and locations, and continued improvements to call handling and computer-aided-dispatch capabilities.

Essential need to train

There is an essential need to train and to graduate into new technologies, which would provide the network and, partly, ensure that the level of 911 service can be available to our island citizens.

With citizen expectations growing around the ability to send a text message or pictures to 911, or telematics-enabled vehicles to call and transmit data to 911 in an accident, we are entering areas that the current network we have simply can't accommodate.

Guam is frequently hit with severe, supertyphoon weather. Survivability of the 911 network is essential regardless of Mother Nature's force.

For Guam, a network-based approach to at once-generation 911 ensures survivability and addresses enhanced public safety applications, like text messaging and dynamic routing of 911 calls while unpredictable emergency events.

Rather than solely upgrading equipment, which limits communicating outside of a 911 center's operational footprint, Guam public safety officials recognized early on that a network-based approach would be the only way to fully realize 911's benefits.

Network-based approach to 911

With a network-based approach to 911, the island system can receive voice, video, text and data directly over a then-generation, public safety class IP network.

Once the information is in the network, officials have flexibility to transfer it to other agencies and make it available directly to field units. Plus, the central system will eliminate maintenance costs and the costs and complexity associated with the manual transmission of data from disparate operating environments.

Funding for any government project is always an issue; now more than ever. Guam's 911 system funding challenge will be somewhat mitigated because the costs associated with 911 services delivery were specified in existing tariffs defining what an enhanced-911 service provider can charge. As a result, the move to an at once-generation 911 network will be a matter of shifting costs from the incumbent provider to a new one. to be identified at a later date -- the island's new 911 service provider.

New provider is expected to replace the outdated

A new provider is expected to replace the outdated, centralized, automatic message accounting trunks used by the previous service provider. This upgrade to the new IP-based network will handle all 911 call routing and delivery of automatic location information for every 911 call, whether from a landline, wireless or VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) phone.

Lastly, the network-based model should give the operational flexibility to reroute 911 calls to help ensure that every 911 call gets the attention it needs.