I’d like to share some really engaging videos we shot at last week’s combined BAPCO and Critical Communications Europe, including some in-depth hands-on demonstrations of new solutions. I hope you find them interesting:

Advancing The Lifeline at BAPCO and CC Europe 2019
Check out this whistle-stop tour of this year's most important mission-critical event. Look out for the new Si200 bodyworn video camera, two-way radios, Avigilon video surveillance, purpose-built devices, key conference topics and more:

New Si200 Bodyworn Camera and Digital Evidence Management
Mike Williams takes us through a hands-on demo of CommandCentral Vault showing how video footage can be reviewed and analysed alongside, for example, gps location data and mapping. Mike follows this with a hands-on demo of the new Si200 bodyworn camera, shows how it can work with a companion device and finishes with a live demo of it working with CommandCentral Vault:

Digital Policing with Pronto
Norman Dixon gives us a hands-on demo of the Pronto Digital Policing application, showing how it replaces police officers' traditional paper and pen. Norman takes us through some of the applications and explains how Pronto enables police officers to spend more time supporting the public:

Purpose Built Devices - Two-Way Radios and much more
Sean Fitzgerald explains how Motorola Solutions has communications devices and infrastructure to suit every possible user. Whether its unlicensed, TETRA or DMR, Sean explains how users can take mobile and handheld devices, accessories and applications from across the portfolio to meet their own specific needs:

Hands-on with Avigilon Video Surveillance and Self Learning Analytics
Lukasz Pitera explains how Artificial Intelligence is used to keep cities and businesses safer -  addressing key public safety and security challenges. Lukasz goes on to give us a practical demonstration of how Avigilon video surveillance integrates with CommandCentral Aware, how analytics can be used to speed investigation, how Appearance Search can find target subjects rapidly and how self-learning analytics can be used to provide actionable alarms to police officers.

Cloud - Based Control Rooms: CommandCentral Control Room Solution
Mark Swift explains the benefits of moving your control room to a fully hosted environment and addresses key questions around deploying CommandCentral CRS: What are the advantages in scalabilty and flexibility? How can you ensure  reliability and resilience? What is the cost benefit?

Motorola Solutions Kodiak Broadband Push-To-Talk
Steve Beach introduces the Kodiak broadband solution and how it is used by carriers worldwide to provide LMR augmentation.Steve gives a hands-on demonstration of its standards-based mission critical push-to-talk functionality, including priority, pre-emption, quality of service, ambient listening, and emergency button integration.

You can catch all these videos in one place on our BAPCO/CCE 2019 YouTube playlist too.

I hope you enjoyed this selection.

Paul Jeffs - Editor - Think Public Safety.

Paul Jeffs is Public Safety Editorial Lead for Europe and Africa at Motorola Solutions.

Paul is on LinkedIn

Follow @MotSolsEMEA on Twitter and look out for #ThinkPublicSafety

If you weren’t able to get to this week’s PMRExpo or didn’t manage to see everything, we’ve pulled together a short round-up of videos from the exhibition for you:

Advancing the Lifeline
Sean Fitzgerald gives an overview of the wide range of devices, solutions and services on show at this year's PMRExpo including Avigilon video surveillance and intelligence-based analysis, the widest possible range of radios and accessories from unlicensed through DMR Tier 3 to TETRA, command centre and control room solutions, services that help you protect your network and device investment, and of course our new ST7500 compact TETRA radio:

ST7500 Compact TETRA Radio Key Features
Stuart Longley gets hands-on with the ST7500 and shows why he believes this device is going to be popular with Public Safety officers who 'want to concentrate on the task at hand' and why it is 'a device that takes them through to the future in the next generation of TETRA':

Avigilon Top 4 Features Demo
Robert Koehler gives us a hands-on demo of the top four features of the Avigilon video surveillance and analytics system: Avigilon Unusual Motion Detection, Avigilon Appearance Search, Avigilon Self Learning Video Analysis, and Avigilon High Resolution Video Cameras:

PMRExpo 2018 Highlights
A lightning quick tour of the best of the PMRExpo exhibition:

You can access all these videos and more on our PMRExpo 2018 YouTube Playlist

I hope you enjoyed this round-up.

Paul Jeffs - Editor - Think Public Safety.

Paul Jeffs is Public Safety Editorial Lead for Europe and Africa at Motorola Solutions.

Paul is on LinkedIn

Follow @MotSolsEMEA on Twitter and look out for #PMRExpo

A Mission-Critical-Focused Preview of PMRExpo 2018 - Kölnmesse, Köln, Germany, 27-29 November, stand D12

Every day, governments, businesses and individuals rely on effortless and reliable communications. They call it their lifeline. From the extreme moments to the day-to-day, communication plays an increasingly critical role in protecting and connecting the world.

From mission-critical services and command centre software through to secure and reliable land mobile radio solutions, our technology is helping to advance your communications lifeline so businesses run smoothly and cities stay safe.

Come and experience this at PMRExpo 2018 in Köln. We will be exhibiting and taking part in the conference too. We’ll have the widest range of mission-critical solutions to show you. We invite you to join us at the exhibition on stand D12 where you can meet with our industry experts and get hands-on with the latest solutions.

We will be showing how you can unlock the potential of public safety in a digital age. We will be featuring purpose built devices such as the new ST7500 Compact TETRA radio, the new LEX 11 Mission Critical LTE device, the TPG2200 TETRA Pager; as well as complete radio network and command centre solutions, WAVE Push-To-Talk, Avigilon Video Surveillance and more. Check out our Mission Critical at PMRExpo event guide for more detail on what we will be showing for our Police, Fire and Rescue, Emergency Medical and other Public Safety users.

I am looking forward to participating in these sessions in the conference too:

• Tuesday 27 November, 11.00 - The future of Security-Critical Communication
• Wednesday 28 November, 15.30 - Secure Communications and Virtualisation

Check out our dedicated PMRExpo microsite too for news, views, previews and videos from the show - pmrexpo.motorolasolutions.com

I look forward to seeing you in Köln.

Axel Kukuk is Director Key Account Management, Head of Sales DACH at Motorola Solutions

Axel is on LinkedIn

Follow @MotSolsEMEA on Twitter and look out for #PMRExpo.

Mission Critical Technologies Africa 2018 in Cape Town, 13-15 November 2018

I am excited to be exhibiting and speaking at this year’s Mission Critical Technologies Africa.

We will be showing how we can use our technology to solve communications challenges faced by police, fire and rescue, ambulance and other public safety agencies throughout Africa.

What are those challenges?

• Challenge 1 - Harnessing the complementary benefits of digital radio and mobile broadband technologies.  Many public safety service providers are planning for an extended period of co-existence for digital radio systems and mobile broadband networks.  This is understandable given that LTE mobile broadband networks promise access to cutting-edge, transformative applications that will enhance frontline personnel safety, improve situational awareness and boost productivity. TETRA land mobile radio systems, however, remain the best choice for supporting mission-critical voice services. How are you planning to maximise the benefits of TETRA coexistence with LTE?
• Challenge 2 - Managing diverse data from an increasing number of sources. With the increasing adoption of wearables, and the growing number of information sources, we are fast approaching a tipping point. This is where the risk of not knowing what we know increases. How do you isolate that critical piece of information that could have changed the outcome of an incident?
• Challenge 3 - Managing risk and keeping up with the pace of technology change. With the fast pace of technology advancement, do you have the skills and expertise required to maximise system performance and mitigate risk readily available in-house?
• Challenge 4 - Ensuring staff can communicate and collaborate in real-time. Creating reliable communications systems presents multiple challenges. How do you design networks to ensure that the technology used matches user requirements?

Visit us on stand A84 and learn from our experts about our range of solutions that can help you address these challenges:

The new ST7500 compact TETRA radio, Ultra Portable LTE Infrastructure, our LEX L11 Mission-Critical LTE Device, Si500 Body Worn Camera, Avigilon Appearance Search™ and Unusual Motion Detection, Control Room Systems coupled with our Command Centre Software,  Managed and Support Services to maximise your system’s availability and equipment uptime, high performance networks - MOTOTRBO™ Capacity Max and DIMETRA Express, WAVE broadband push-to-talk and a range of purpose-built TETRA, MOTOTRBO, ASTRO 25, and LTE devices. Wow!

Read our dedicated event guide to find out more.

I am also excited to be speaking in the conference on a very topical subject:

'National mission critical networks – leveraging digital technologies alongside broadband' in 'Connecting Africa' on Thursday 15 November 2018 from 12:50 to 13:10.

Visitor passes for Mission Critical Technologies Africa are free. You can register here.

Mission Critical Technologies Africa is also co-located with AfricaCom so you could easily combine visits to both. Visitor passes for both events are free.

You can also keep up-to-date with news and events on our Safer Cities, Secure Businesses Africa microsite at www.motorolasolutions.com/saferafrica

I look forward to seeing you in Cape Town.

Tunde Williams is Head of Marketing for Europe, Middle-East and Africa

Tunde is on LinkedIn

Follow @MotSolsEMEA on Twitter and look out for #MCTA2018

A seamless, reliable network is essential to business- and mission-critical communications. From public safety and the military to transportation and logistics, organisations around the world rely on land mobile radio (LMR) systems as their go-to communications network.

Since the 1930s and the early days of simple analogue two-way radios, LMR technology has undergone a massive transformation. Today’s LMR systems are software-defined and IP-based to meet users’ evolving need. And like all IT-based systems, whether shared or used by a single entity, they are not immune to cyberattacks.

As a result, how they are maintained and supported requires a new breed of resources and expertise. System operators must be knowledgeable not only about the equipment but also about the IP- and software-centric network components to ensure communication is secure and available 24x7x365.

How you manage your LMR system is vital to maximising uptime and limiting disruptions. Around the world, users are tackling this challenge in a variety of ways—from regular system updates and continuous network monitoring to proactive cybersecurity strategies and system performance trends and analysis.

To gain a clearer picture of the measures that system operators are applying to their networks, Motorola Solutions is conducting an LMR system management survey.

Our research report will provide insights into several compelling areas:

• Support and maintenance services that your peers are using to support their LMR systems
• Cybersecurity measures being taken to address and respond to threats
• Best practices for minimising network downtime and improving system performance
• Future system management priorities

LMR systems operators and customers are invited to share their experiences and insights in our inaugural survey. The results will be used to help stakeholders and individuals responsible for ensuring system uptime improve their performance by learning from one another and gaining insights into the best ways to tackle the challenges of this complex communications environment.
 
Click here to get started.

For every survey completed, Motorola Solutions will donate $5 USD to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) or International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (ICMEC). (Total donations will be capped at $2,500 USD.). Once our study is complete, we will be happy to share the results with you.

Graeme is Global Service Portfolio Manager at Motorola Solutions

Connect with Graeme on LinkedIn

Follow #ThinkPublicSafety, @MotsolsEMEA on Twitter