Those new to Public Safety communications systems often wonder if these networks are over-designed and ask whether or not commercial systems could be used to save costs. Consider the following..

When Superstorm Sandy came roaring ashore on the East Coast of the United States in October of 2012, 25 percent of the region’s commercial mobile cell sites were knocked out of service. A week later, many of those sites still remained inoperable and as a result some public carriers reported nationwide network issues.

Private, mission critical networks in the region on the other hand, remained in service throughout the event. What does that mean? Public Safety officials and government agencies could communicate and coordinate responses across cities, counties and departments. Emergency calls connected instantly. First responder group calls were established in under a second. Lives and property were protected.

Mission critical networks are different because they have to be. Designed to a more rigorous standard, they ensure public safety and government agencies have voice and data access where and when it’s needed for daily operations, events and the unexpected. They offer five defining characteristics that public carriers simply can’t match:

• Standards-Based Communications Capabilities - Accepted by government agencies around the world, P25 and TETRA deliver over-the-air interoperability and call prioritisation; voice connectivity for all users in under a second; dedicated, resilient system coverage where and when it’s needed; security and encryption; and much more.
• Control - Mission critical networks give agencies control over which users can access what resource, what changes need to be made and when, who gets priority in an emergency.
• Coverage When and Where It’s Needed - Mission critical networks are designed and optimised for coverage that caters to the operations of first responders and provides capacity for emergencies.
• Network Capacity and Resiliency - A mission critical network is purpose-built to withstand multiple failures before communications are affected and is specially designed for multiple levels of active redundancy.
• Devices Built for Public Safety - Mission critical devices built for how Public Safety works means batteries that work for 8-10 hours at a time; rugged form factors designed to stand up to heat, cold, rain, dust, drop and vibration; intuitive applications; and loud and clear audio so responders can hear and be heard despite the chaos that surrounds them.

There’s no substitute for a purpose-designed and purpose-built mission critical network for the critical operations of Public Safety.

Motorola has been committed to Public Safety customers for more than 80 years. Our mission critical systems are in use every day in more than 60 countries around the world. We continue to innovate to serve government and public safety better, building networks and devices that offer true mission critical capabilities on TETRA, P25 and next generation Public Safety LTE networks. A great example of the type of device designed for the networks of both today, and tomorrow is the LEX755 Mission-Critical Handheld.

Richard Bennett is Senior Manager, Solutions Marketing EMEA.

Richard is on LinkedIn at uk.linkedin.com/pub/richard-bennett/1/19b/238

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