June 5, 2009

Florida Counties to Partner with Embarq for Next Generation 9-1-1 Solutions

Using a State of Florida 9-1-1 grant, Lake Okaloosa and Walton counties are participating in this leading-edge transition.

"We are looking forward to working with an inovative provider willling to work on the cutting edge of E-9-1-1 technology," said Michelle Gatlin, E911 Coordinator for Walton County. "Embarq is providing that solution."

PSAPs across the nation are focusing on interoperability among the E-911 agencies, as well as converged networks, working to maximize dispatcher efficiencies while minimizing costs. To help meet this Multiple Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) and other network features. "We offer a variety of network and equipment options, and have a long and successful history of working with PSAPs to help them meet their public safety goals, " said Rob Roache, Embarq area vice president-sales. "We're especially pleased to work these innovatiove PSAPs in moving toward NextGen."

All of the counties' deployments are developing well. "Embarq put a solution together for a turnkey NextGen 911 Center upgrade and we are looking forward to our enhancements this year," said Okaloosa County E911 Communication Chief Silvia Womack.

"It is important for all of us to move toward greater interoperability and to ensure survivability." Bruce Thornburn, E911 director for Lake County, said the coordination amoung the various PSAPs has been remarkable smooth. "Once the upgrade are complete, the integrated network will provide an even more robust and integrated public safety solution," he said.  Embarq, the participating PSAPs, and a couple of important vendors have forged a strong working relationship as they keep the ultimate goal of public safety in mind. " The coordination among our deployment teams, the vendors and the PSAPs has been remarkable," Roache said. "This effort will provide a robust and integrated public safety solution intended to keep E-911 in a constant state of readiness." Once the upgrades are complete, the integrated network will provide interoperability of location-based services among PSAPs participating in this converged solution."
EMBARQ made use of its relationship with SolaCom for the routing technology necessary to effectively route, legacy 911 calls, as well as
its converged IP network calls to the appropriate PSAP agency. "SolaCom is committed to providing IP-based solutions designed specifically
to meet NextGen requirements while maintaining existing public safety operations," said Tony Parrott, vice president of sales for SolaCom.
"Our solutions promote interoperability and improved communication among agencies."

In addition, 911 Datamaster is providing a database solution to meet the needs of location identification interoperability to the PSAPs that
participated in the Florida state grant process. "EMBARQ continues to demonstrate that quality comes first, as it builds a clear, logical, and cost-effective NextGen roadmap for its customers," said Eric J. Regnier, vice president-business development and strategy with 911 Datamaster. "We are eager to support EMBARQ's vision for real-world, value-added solutions."