by AllThingsECC.com | May 20, 2018 | Comm Center News
By Christopher Vondracek
Steven Raucher, or “Steve from the Future,” as he has been known to refer to himself, is the co-founder of RapidDeploy, and a man determined to make a difference in public safety communications.
RapidDeploy recently launched a video proclaiming a second extinction was coming for public safety – spelling extinction for legacy public safety software and suggesting major changes in the communications industry. Evolution to the cloud is the clear message. “The existing solutions in American public safety are built on technologies which are outdated and do not leverage the power of the cloud,” Raucher said
Raucher, a 20-year veteran of the finance and IT sector, became a first responder in 2015 and gained firsthand experience of the challenges first responders face during a call for service. His RapidDeploy co-founder, Brett Meyerowitz, a volunteer paramedic, formerly with Intel and the former CTO of one of the largest online gaming sites in the world, had “never even heard of Computer-Aided-Dispatch (CAD),” when he set out to write a system built by first responders for first responders.” It is worth noting that Brett also built the first cloud-based retail bank in Africa.
With Brett and Steven’s background in technology, they saw the burden many agencies face, especially in rural locations, where response times to 9-1-1 calls are slower and costs can quickly escalate. Rather than running critical communications systems on disconnected on-premise legacy infrastructure, the RapidDeploy CAD provides reliability, speed, and reduced cost of ownership to agencies, all within a web-based and cloud-based dispatch system.
RapidDeploy recently had a successful test run in America. At a stadium-sized event, with over 30,000 attendees, Raucher’s team was field-testing when they lost all cell connectivity due to a network overwhelmed by fans uploading videos, sending pictures, and connecting with social media. In the event of an emergency, such loss of service could be disastrous.
“All cell connectivity was lost,” Raucher said. “We were accessing the RapidDeploy CAD over a satellite link, and it became unresponsive.” However, one responding officer was running his iPhone on FirstNet, and he was able to tether to his laptop and the cloud and access the RapidDeploy CAD over the FirstNet network. “Our CAD sparked right up,” Raucher said. “We were running live in the field, in the middle of this enormous crowd, with zero latency. It was fantastic.”
The mission of RapidDeploy, according to the co-founder, is to “reduce response times for all and improve first responders’ safety by increasing situational awareness.” A cloud-based solution can also better integrate everything from mapping, weather, traffic, IoT sensor data and other mission-critical data sources.
And while it was successful with a mass gathering, RapidDeploy also aids rural districts. Raucher notes that roughly 75 percent of 9-1-1 PSAPs (Public Safety Answering Points) in America are comprised of five or fewer call-taking and dispatch positions. Being smaller facilities means they cannot afford to run the traditional legacy systems that require racks of servers and dedicated IT support. That leaves these agencies in the unfortunate position of running second tier, or sometimes no software at all, to manage their dispatch of emergency services.
“The cloud can democratize public safety whereby small agencies can now run their entire operations using a world class software solution that historically was only accessible to larger agencies.”
Raucher sees FirstNet as a unique opportunity in the world of public safety. “This is the first time we have run our CAD on a hardened Public Safety Broadband Network (PSBN) designed purely for first responders,” Raucher said. “What FirstNet is doing is really remarkable.” And in what Raucher’s video calls the “Second Extinction” of the status quo in delivering better public safety communication, he sees FirstNet and other partners willing to innovate within the industry as the “survivors,” the rest ending up on the museum floor.
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Christopher is a freelance journalist living in Washington D.C., most recently with Courthouse News.
by AllThingsECC.com | May 19, 2018 | Comm Center News
The state is close to its goal of 100 percent availability of the service across all counties.
SOURCE: Statescoop
DATE: May 18, 2018
For Iowans who find themselves in an emergency, the option to text 911 rather than call is now available for most of the state, the governor’s office recently announced.
As of April, 97 of the state’s 99 counties have 911 call centers capable of receiving text messages, according to officials. Two counties, Pottawattamie and Scott, do not yet have text-capable 911 centers, but the state has a goal of reaching 100 percent availability that it is now working towards.
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by AllThingsECC.com | May 4, 2018 | Articles, Comm Center News
By Michael Varney, First Responder Network Authority, Region 1 Lead
In the five years since the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing took place, Bostonians have remained true to the phrase “Boston Strong” – the two-word phrase that united the city and circled the globe in the aftermath of the senseless tragedy.
On that infamous day, thousands of spectators and residents can recall reaching for their mobile devices to frantically locate family and friends. Unfortunately, the high call volume saturated the local cellular networks causing signal delays and failed calls rendering mobile phones nearly useless. For area first responders on duty that day the consequences of poor network coverage and capacity was more dire — the lack of a reliable network delayed the ability to share the images and videos that ultimately helped to identify the alleged perpetrators.
Looking back on 2013, we learned that video and data changed the communications landscape for emergency response. As security preparations were underway for the 2018 Boston Marathon, FirstNet, the first nationwide wireless broadband network dedicated to public safety, was in place to bolster emergency communications for first responders.
This article appears on firstnet.gov dated May 2, 2018
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by AllThingsECC.com | Apr 30, 2018 | Articles, Comm Center News
By William Schrier, Senior Advisor
A number of public safety agencies are adopting FirstNet and gaining capabilities they have never had before. These FirstNet trailblazers are exploring the benefits of smart devices powered by a dedicated, high-speed wireless broadband connection. Capturing and sharing real-time data, live streaming, and incident mapping are just a few FirstNet-powered capabilities they’re incorporating into emergency response.
To provide public safety with the modern, lifesaving technology it needs, the First Responder Network Authority and AT&T are working to bring public safety’s innovation needs to the attention of app and technology developers. We are also helping public safety realize the benefits of integrating mobile data and devices in their day-to-day services. The key question is-
How can mobile data and devices improve emergency response?
This opinion article appears on firstnet.gov dated April 19, 2018.
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by AllThingsECC.com | Apr 2, 2018 | Opinions, Stories
Kristin K. Brooks
Speed bumps. I don’t know about you, but when I hear that word, I automatically get annoyed. Speed bumps are those annoying little things that always appear to slow me down. I know that speed bumps are placed where they are for good reasons—to slow the speed of cars in a residential area, for example—but it doesn’t mean I have to like them.
In the communication center, I sometimes feel like I am driving down a highway of speed bumps. I feel like I am on top of my game when a speed bump appears and slows me down.
There are even different kinds of speed bumps. I remember as a little girl riding my bicycle over speed bumps that made me bounce. These were the tall and skinny ones. I was impatient with my dad driving over these inconvenient spots in the roadway. Couldn’t he go around them? In my grandmother’s neighborhood, speed bumps are the vehicle’s full length. They are called speed tables. The speed bump is so wide that you laugh—how is this supposed to slow me down? I never slow down and end up looking like an episode of “The Dukes of Hazzard” with my vehicle flying through the air and landing nose first on the other side.
Then there are speed bumps that sneak up on me. I saw the warning sign but got distracted and don’t hit the brakes fast enough, and I end up bracing for impact. In the aftermath, I tell myself not to let that happen again. There are also speed bumps in the communication center. They are inconvenient incidents that happen in intervals that slow us down. No one really likes a speed bump, but once you hit one, you stop and consider why the speed bump is there. Speed bumps in the communication center can help us slow down, step back, and regroup.
The tall, skinny ones are incidents or problems that sort of come and go. Nothing too damaging, but a situation that stirs everyone to take a step back and regroup. Take, for example, when the CAD gives similar street names to pick from and you unknowingly pick the wrong address. First responders go to the wrong address, the caller wonders when help will arrive, and the dispatcher is frustrated over the preventable mistake. The incident is not life-threatening [although it could be], but it reminds everyone about what could happen in a more serious event.
The speed table incidents are the ones that no one wants to go through. The media are a prime example. Sometimes they camp out near the department as a constant reminder of a mishap. They play up the event and the not always accurate facts run throughout the day on the communication center TV. These situations unhinge or unravel the comfort zone. These incidents can force some emergency dispatchers to question their passion. Is it worth holding on tight and going through the storm?
The speed bumps that come with warning signs that are ignored or forgotten are incidents that you truly never saw coming, although the signs were all there. The death of a co-worker brings sadness. If the person was ill, the warning signs were probably there, but everyone ignored them because it’s easier than accepting reality. The department regroups from the incident and tries to move forward.
Speed bumps in the comm. center are inevitable. These inconvenient incidents remind us why we chose this profession. It is easy to get complacent, and we shouldn’t. We need to develop ways to approach these speed bumps. We should look at them as learning experiences so that in the future we remember to double-check an address, remember that we know what happened during an event, and remember not to take co-workers for granted. Together, we can learn to go over these speed bumps with grace.
