Upgrades 911 operations for new consumer technologies using broadband networks for faster, more effective emergency responses

Avaya today introduced technologies designed to address the urgent need to upgrade outdated 911 systems. Avaya Public Safety Communications Solutions enable 911 centers to adopt the advanced communications technologies required to handle the growing number and types of communications coming from consumer technologies and streamline processes for faster, more effective responses to emergency calls. Avaya Public Safety Communications help ensure that a call for help will be answered - even in the face of broad scale environmental disasters.

"The majority of 911 communications operations are sorely in need of modernization to function well in today’s and tomorrow’s communications environments" said Jeff Robertson, executive director, 911 Industry Alliance. "While the 911 system has proven to be a success over the past four decades of its existence, today it stands at an inflection point and being left behind by technological change. The typical model today is still one of a small, standalone emergency communications systems using yesterday’s analog technologies"

To help emergency call systems update analog architectures to support advanced technologies, Avaya has assembled Public Safety Communications Solutions, integrated, communications software, hardware and services from Avaya and its ecosystem partners. These solutions deliver a number of benefits for 911 centers, the people and communities they serve.

Based on highly-resilient IP Telephony, Avaya Public Safety Communications Solutions make it possible to link multiple centers into municipal, county or state-wide emergency networks. This expands the pool of public safety call takers who can field the increasing volume of calls from broadly diverse devices and technologies people use today. Operators along the network can manage overflow when call volume supersedes the capacity of those in one particular location or when one center is physically inaccessible. With advanced call routing, calls can be directed to the most local center first with overflow going to other centers. Networked 911 centers can also share advanced applications and technologies and distribute the cost over several sites, making migration to next generation 911 centers more economically feasible.

Avaya Public Safety Communications Solutions can enable 911 centers to accept and interact with new forms of communications, including photos, video, text and instant messaging. Presence technologies can enable a public safety call taker to quickly tap expertise in other areas - for example medical or environmental - when callers are on the line. In addition, operators can directly conference landline and cellular calls with the radios used by first responders, eliminating the delay and potential for error in relaying information from one communications channel to another. The solutions provide advanced call management capabilities which enhance the operation of Intelligent Workstations, the tools used by the majority public safety call takers to manage incoming emergency calls, locate the caller, and pass critical information to downstream systems including Computer Aided Dispatch systems.

Local or state governments can take advantage of existing communications networks and connect public safety agencies with supporting departments and functions. For example, a municipal government can extend the communications network serving administrative and constituent information or services departments to first responder and 911 operations. In addition, virtually every 911 center regularly answers calls that are not true, emergency-related calls. The ability to quickly transfer these calls to more appropriate areas frees valuable time and resources.

For extra layers of resiliency, redundant servers and locally survivable processors keep critical functions running through power, network or equipment outages. The Public Safety Communications solutions include a "portable PSAP" a fully-equipped, public safety answering position that can be installed in a vehicle or packed in a rugged container. Emergency agencies can move operations to safer ground to when evacuations are required, and connect to any network - PSTN, cellular, satellite, wifi, broadband - as well as linking to state or local agency networks for direct dialing to colleagues and access to directories, databases.