Frontier Communications has won four contracts to supply next-generation 911 systems in New York, serving six counties within and outside of its service footprint in the state.
For each of the communities served, the service provider is deploying the Airbus DS Vesta 4 system, an IP-based integrated communications system that provides full redundancy and allows call takers to set up in a mobile environment in the event of evacuation.
Each of the new systems can provide detailed and comprehensive reporting, enabling users to better analyze call data. Because the new systems are next-generation 911 ready they can also transmit text, data and video images to 911 centers.
The contracts were awarded by Yates and Seneca counties, Chemung County and the city of Elmira, Fulton and Montgomery counties, and Rockland county, which has also selected INdigital's texTTY platform which handles text messaging to and from 911 services. The texTTY platform provides text messaging to and from 911 services via smartphones, tablets, hotspots and other text-capable devices.
New York has been actively upgrading its 911 network systems.
In the second half of 2014, Frontier signed an agreement to provide similar services to Monroe County and Rochester, N.Y.
While neither Frontier nor the counties revealed the financial amount of these contracts, they are important to win and maintain for the telco to win as it gives it a track record it can use in pursuing similar deals in other states where it operates.
Outside of New York, a number of states such as Hawaii, Maine, and Vermont have also been actively upgrading their 911 systems.
FairPoint Communications, the dominant telco in Northern New England, won agreements in Maine and Vermont, while Hawaiian Telcom selected Intrado to upgrade its network infrastructure to provide next-generation 911 products and services to public safety answering points (PSAPs).
Other telcos like AT&T (NYSE: T) have been making enhancements to their 911 service, including the ability to let any person to create their own online profile, for example.
For more:
- see the release
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