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Comtech Buys General Dynamics NG 9-1-1 Business, Gains $100M Contract

The contract award, acquisition and hiring of new employees are expected to strengthen Comtech’s position in the growing NG 9-1-1 solutions market. Under the five-year contract award, which begins Aug. 4, Comtech will develop, implement and operate a secure, IP-based NG 9-1-1 system for the state that permits emergency service requests from its existing public networks through new and emerging modes of communications and devices. Comtech will perform similar services from April 29 through Aug. 3, 2019.
Comtech will provide financial and other information concerning this contract award and the NG 9-1-1 acquisition during its regularly scheduled conference call to review the results of its fiscal quarter ending April 30.
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San Francisco Partners with RapidSOS for 9-1-1 Integration with Uber

“The San Francisco Department of Emergency Management is always seeking ways to increase location accuracy from cellphone callers,” said Mary Ellen Carroll, executive director of SFDEM. “This new technology with enhanced location services and travel information will help save lives. We are grateful that our private partners are working with us directly in making San Francisco safer for all our residents and visitors.”
Since late 2018, San Francisco’s 9-1-1 dispatchers began receiving more precise location information from 9-1-1 callers. Developed by RapidSOS, this enhancement gives 9-1-1 dispatchers the ability to toggle between standard carrier automatic number identification/automatic location identification (ANI/ALI) and the phone’s own coordinates, allowing for greater location accuracy. This technology and additional location information is only available on updated versions of iPhones and Androids.
Prior to RapidSOS integration, basic location information that users agree to provide on a mobile device was not provided to San Francisco’s 9-1-1 system when a person called for emergency assistance. As a result, if the mobile caller could not provide location information, the dispatcher would have to initiate a lengthy process in an attempt to approximate a caller’s location. In 2014, the FCC issued a report estimating that improved mobile location information for 9-1-1 would save 10,000 lives annually.
In addition to this enhancement to 9-1-1 call processing, SFDEM, under agreement and through an integration with RapidSOS and Uber, will be the first agency in the Bay Area to receive accurate caller location and additional emergency data from Uber passengers initiating a call to 9-1-1 via the Uber app’s “9-1-1 Assistance” feature.
This new emergency button feature on the Uber app allows 9-1-1 dispatchers to automatically obtain key details, including Uber driver and rider information, vehicle description, license plate, current location and direction of travel. When Uber’s in-app emergency button is used, the information is sent digitally to the RapidSOS interface, which a dispatcher can then access once a caller indicates they are using the Uber service.
“We believe technology can help make the roads safer. This feature is available in more than 60 cities, and we are proud to add San Francisco, our home, to the growing list of cities using this technology,” said Krishnaja Gutta, Uber product safety manager. “Every second counts in an emergency, and we want to make sure Uber users have important information to get help quickly if faced with an emergency situation.”
The new technology will directly benefit and assist with the response from the San Francisco Police Department.
“Our core mission is to ensure the safety of the public,” said San Francisco Police Chief William Scott. “We welcome the use of technology that enables our City’s first responders to react more quickly and efficiently during an emergency.”
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Orion Labs Offers Floor-Level Location Accuracy with Voice Platform

The integration delivers enhanced situational awareness and improved operational efficiency in GPS-deprived environments by tracing the location of Orion managed devices.
“The indoor location of personnel and equipment assets is a vital piece of the puzzle for many mobile business-critical applications,” said Ramon Llamas, research director at global market intelligence firm IDC. “The Orion Voice Platform addresses this challenge by deploying the comprehensive Polaris 3D location toolkit with APIs (application programming interfaces), providing proven location technology.”
The technology allows users to know exactly what floor or room a team member or 9-1-1 caller is located. Plus, Orion customers in any industry using Advanced Location Services can locate team members on the vertical axis accurate to 3 meters’ distance to keep teams better informed and connected. The technology offers enhanced team performance and improves worker safety across the board.

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Allen Police Department Deploys CentralSquare Public-Safety Software

The Allen (Texas) Police Department selected the CentralSquare Public Safety Suite Enterprise, which includes CAD, records management and mobile systems. The department’s purchase represents an upgrade of its existing communication and records systems.
The system helps ensure fast multiagency, multidiscipline and multijurisdictional response among law enforcement, fire and EMS.
“From the time we pick up a 9-1-1 call through writing reports and every other public-safety service we provide, we wanted one seamless system from start to finish,” said Allen Police Department Deputy Chief Ken Myers. “In partnering with CentralSquare, we’re working toward critical departmental goals: increase the speed and accuracy of our reporting, improve collection of data and make better decisions with analytics and citizen service tools, ultimately so we can keep officers out in the community. We look forward to leveraging the system’s flexibility, automation and citizen portal to make sure we enhance efficiency in all areas of our department.”
CentralSquare Technologies was formed by the mergerof Superion, TriTech Software Systems and Zuercher Technologies last year.
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HAAS Alert Partners with Active911 on Collision Prevention

Through the partnership, Active911 mobile app users can leverage the HAAS Alert Safety Cloud to automatically send digital alerts to nearby drivers and other emergency vehicles when responding to an emergency.
According to a University of Minnesota study, the risk of collision between a civilian vehicle and emergency vehicle can be reduced by up to 90% when nearby drivers receive an advance warning.
“Every day in the United States, there are almost 200 roadway collisions involving a first responder, with many of them having a connected device in their vehicle running the Active911 mobile app,” said Cory Hohs, co-founder and CEO of HAAS Alert.
By adding their digital alerting capabilities to our mobile platform, first responders using the Active911 system will have an added layer of protection while responding to emergencies.
For more on the HAAS Alert app, view the “FirstNet App Catalog: Apps for First Responder Teamwork” webinar on demand here.
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FCC Commissioner Reprimands 3 States for Continually Diverting 9-1-1 Fees

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy and Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo received the letter, which called the three states “habitual diverters of 9-1-1 fees,” and said they “appear to have little interest in correcting this harmful behavior.”
O’Rielly said the three states diverted the most money, in both total funding diverted and on a percentage basis, according to the FCC’s most recent report. Specifically, New York, New Jersey and Rhode Island were responsible for diversions of $170.9 million, $94.2 million and $11.4 million, equating to 90.35%, 77.26% and 67.7%, respectively, of monies received.
In the case of Rhode Island and New Jersey, the collected funds diverted were used for purposes completely unrelated or not demonstrated to be related to emergency communications. In New York, the commission found that the vast majority of funding did not go to 9-1-1-related purposes and a mere $10 million of the $75 million in the state’s various “public safety grants” were 9-1-1 related.
The letter said diverting 9-1-1 fees undermines the willingness of consumers to support 9-1-1, shortchanges the budgets of emergency centers and prevents systems from being upgraded, and makes the three states ineligible for new federal funding to modernize emergency centers. “This entire situation, however, is entirely fixable,” O’Rielly said. “If you are ready to exert the necessary leadership, I stand ready to work with you to eliminate the 9-1-1 fee diversion practices of your respective states.” The full letter is here.
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Comment Dates Set for 900 MHz, Z-Axis Location Proceedings

The 900 MHz notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) was published April 3. The document seeks comment on facilitating future broadband deployment in the 900 MHz band, which is configured for narrowband operations.
The Federal Register notice said 900 MHz comments are due May 3, and reply comments are due June 3. However, the FCC’s original NPRM said comments would be due 60 days after publication, which would be June 3, not May 3.
In addition, the FCC’s fourth further notice of proposed rulemaking to improve wireless E9-1-1 location accuracy, which adopted a vertical location accuracy metric of ±3 meters for 80 percent of indoor 9-1-1 calls, was published April 4.
Comments in that proceeding are due May 20, and reply comments are due June 18.
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National 911 Program Suggests PSAP Tours During Telecommunicator Week

For nearly 40 years, communities nationwide have recognized the dedication of 9-1-1 professionals during the annual celebration, which honors colleagues and educates others about 9-1-1 services.
“Hosting a PSAP tour for an elected official not only provides recognition of hardworking telecommunicators but also creates an opportunity to bring awareness to 9-1-1 issues, such as appropriate use of 9-1-1 services, the challenges of deploying advanced technology, and telecommunicator health and wellness,” said Laurie Flaherty, coordinator of the National 911 Program.
A number of resources are available to help the 9-1-1 community request, plan and make the most of a call center tour on the 911.gov website and NG911 Institute’s website. All resources can be customized for use by any 9-1-1 system nationwide.
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Idaho Selects Federal Engineering for NG 9-1-1 Consulting

The state plans to leverage the latest technologies and implement a standards-based system. Federal Engineering will provide technical, financial, regulatory and operational advice, including assistance in planning, implementation, operation, maintenance, support, evolution and enhancement of NG 9-1-1 across the state.”
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