Innovating The Future of Public Safety. Again. Author: Julian Foster

Julian Foster reports on 50 years of Motorola Solutions in the UK – sharing perspectives from senior executives on future innovation in Public Safety.

At the recent launch of our UK Innovation Centre, Phil Jefferson, Vice President for Western Europe and North Africa set the scene with insight on how Motorola Solutions has been helping governments, agencies and individuals to stay safe, be productive, and work smartly – for the past 90 years. Whether it’s infrastructure, devices, software, or services, the close relationship with our customers plays an integral role in the constant innovation that transforms the way individuals do their jobs on a daily basis.

Our Commitment to Innovation Continues
In 2016 alone, we invested $553M into R&D to develop the next generation of innovative technology and services. In addition, through acquisition and key investments, we spent over $1.5B on acquisitive targets focused on new technology. This investment drives innovation across our technology and service stack to address our customers’ greatest challenges.

These challenges as we know, are greater than ever with an increased security threat – both physical and digital. When this is combined with an emphasis on being more effective with less budget, it means our users are under even greater pressure.

Through organic and inorganic growth, we believe that Motorola Solutions has built the most comprehensive suite of solutions to address the mission-critical needs of both government and commercial enterprises everywhere.

A Smart City is a Safe City
Motorola Solutions has been supporting Public Safety in every moment that matters for over 90 years globally, and specifically in the UK, for the past 50 years. During that time, it’s with great pride that we provided solutions to help support Smarter and Safer Cities:

• Airwave nationwide digital TETRA network – providing mission-critical communications for every single public safety agency (and other agencies) in the UK.

• Business and mission-critical communications for the London Underground – both for public safety and the train operator. This is clearly a vital cog in how London operates.

• Supply well over 100,000 radios and mission-critical devices to UK Public Safety – including all of The Met Police Officers you’ll see on and round the streets of London.

• Pronto Mobile Policing Application Suite is now being used by over a third of UK Police Forces – and that’s growing rapidly.

Helping Society During the Moments that Mattered Most
Our ethos of helping those during the moments that matter most isn’t anything new for Motorola Solutions. It’s engrained in our DNA, and the reason why Motorolans are so proud to be part of this company:

1969 The first words from the moon spoken by Neil Armstrong were relayed using Motorola equipment.

1983 We changed the way the world communicates with the first commercial cellular call on a mobile device.

1998 Chosen to provide secure mobile communications for London Underground.

2000 Awarded the largest nationwide TETRA contract in the World with over 300,000 users.

2012 Deployed the first Public Safety 4G LTE system in Harris County, Texas – and it’s still going strong today.

2015 Awarded Lot 2 ESN Contract to provide user services, system integration, and critical functionality for the UK.

2017 Part of the winning AT&T team to deliver the US future public safety communications contract FirstNet.

Why are all these firsts important?
The result is a company with global reach and depth serving 100,000 customers in 100 different countries. This gives us a broad spectrum of use-cases and customers in which we can continue to innovate and invest.

Keeping cities safe and our communities thriving
Now we’re in London, with a bright future ahead of us. We’re incredibly proud to play a key role in helping ensure the continued safety and security of our citizens and to support the men and women who selflessly serve our great nation – every minute of every day.

 

 

 

Julian Foster is Global Co-Lead for the Social Media Center of Excellence at Motorola Solutions.

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