This year the Critical Communications World event celebrates its 20th year. The event is still relatively young compared to how long we, as a company, have been involved in critical communications. That’s 50 years in Germany, where the event was held this year.  And 40 years? I was reminded of this when I watched a video interview that Julian Foster did at the event in Berlin.

Julian managed to catch up with industry expert Jeppe Jepsen and discuss his personal experience and perspective of how the industry has changed over the past 40 years of his service - and the similarities that TETRA / LTE coexistence has with changes of the past.

There are definitely some key points that Jeppe makes in the interview that I found particularly interesting:

Jeppe was asked what the ‘last comparable big change’ that happened in the industry. Jeppe identifies this as the move to single ‘one network per country’ TETRA networks from multiple analogue systems. He believes this type of technology shift takes a long time and 'it's not just the technology, it's the organisations that need to adapt to new possibilities’…

Jeppe believes that our end customers should already be using broadband offerings from cellular operators, not for ‘life and death situations’, but they should start using it today, to take advantages of new tools it can enable and to make their organisations more effective. Jeppe points out an excellent example from the conference – Harris County using their messaging during flooding. Jeppe believes end users should be testing and implementing using today’s ‘best effort networks’ as long as you have ‘TETRA service as the backup’ and ultimately ‘there is absolutely no reason not to start with it now’…

You can check out the complete interview below:

Clearly as Jeppe says - 'there are two worlds that need to come together and understand each other' to deliver what our end users need.

90 years? Well that’s how long we’ve been innovating in critical communications – ever since we were founded in Chicago in 1928.

Even though CCW is over you can still catch up with all things ‘Critical Communications World’ on our dedicated microsite: www.motorolasolutions.com/ccw

Ricardo Gonzalez is MSSSI VP EMEA Strategy and Marketing at Motorola Solutions

Connect with Ricardo on LinkedIn

Follow #ThinkPublicSafety, @MotsolsEMEA on Twitter

Critical Communications World 2018, 15-17 May, Stand C10, Berlin Messe Expocenter City

Digital technologies are changing the world. In this new age, rapid advances in digital technology have had a profound impact on our lives, enabling a digital economy and fundamentally reshaping the public safety landscape.

We are pleased to be Platinum Sponsors of this year's Critical Communications World event and we will be taking an active part in the conference too.

Come and visit us on stand C10 where we will have experts ready to demonstrate how public safety organisations can help to build safer, thriving communities by addressing five key challenges of the digital age:

1. Harnessing the complementary benefits of TETRA and Broadband networks
   Forward-thinking public safety network providers are planning for an extended period of TETRA coexistence with Public Safety Broadband. The value of this strategy is clear. Public Safety Broadband promises access to cutting-edge, transformative applications that will enhance frontline personnel safety, improve situational awareness and boost productivity. TETRA remains the best technology for mission-critical voice services with over 70% of public safety survey respondents viewing digital land mobile radio systems as providing additive value, alongside Public Safety Broadband investments. We’ll be showing a wide range of multi-technology solutions that will work for you.
2. Managing diverse data from an ever-increasing number of sources
   The complexity of crime is increasing and the need for efficient information sharing within and between different agencies has never been greater. With the increasing adoption of body-worn video, and the growing number of information sources supporting public safety, we are fast approaching a tipping point. This is where we increase the risk of not knowing what we know - that critical piece of information that could have changed the outcome of an incident. We will be demonstrating solutions that ensure you do more than stay on top of the data.
3. Improving the security and resilience of your critical communications
   With cyber crime rising, the EU’s Network and Information Systems directive was adopted by the European Parliament in 2016 to bolster cybersecurity across sectors that rely heavily on information and communications technology. The directive will impact industries identified as Operators of Essential Services. EU member states have until November 2018 to identify the essential service operators to which the directive applies. Learn how our specialist services can help you achieve this challenge
4. Managing risk and keeping up with the pace of technology changeWith the fast pace of technology advancement, the skills and expertise required to maximise system performance and mitigate risk are not always readily available in-house. Further, many public safety organisations no longer see the maintenance and management of ICT as a core function. Meet with our experts and we can show you solutions from cloud-based software solutions through to services that help you resolve any operational challenges
5. Improving the safety and productivity of frontline teams with limited budget
   Purpose Built devices help frontline teams perform at their best in the moments that matter. From TETRA and DMR through to LTE, experience the most comprehensive critical communications device portfolio. At the show you can learn about how you can pair custom accessories with our new public safety devices and get hands-on with the devices you need.

I look forward to seeing you there.

You can keep up-to-date with all-things CCW – news, videos, speaker details, book stand tours, download our event guides and more, by visiting our dedicated CCW microsite – ccw.motorolasolutions.com

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

Tunde is on LinkedIn

Follow @MotSolsEMEA on Twitter and look out for #CCW2018 and #CCWorld

Following our blog on the Top 6 Think Public Safety Public posts of 2017, I’d like to share our Top 6 list of EMEA Public Safety YouTube English-language videos published in 2017.

1 - Lowland Rescue Finds Missing Person - Lowland Rescue uses WAVE Push-to-Talk service from Motorola Solutions to coordinate a search and rescue.

2 - WAVE™ Control Room Solution – WAVE Control Room Solution transforms control room operations by combining mission-critical security and availability with elastic capacity through Motorola Solutions’ private cloud, hosted in ESN data centres.

3 - DIMETRA Express at Critical Communications Europe 2017 - Paul Wilson introduces the new DIMETRA Express - a fully integrated 'all-in-box' TETRA system that supports TETRA voice services, short data, and VOIP telephony. Paul explains how simple the system is to install - taking less than 15 minutes!

4 - Welcome to Critical Communications Europe 2017 - Tunde Williams welcomes us to Critical Communications Europe 2017. With over 1000 Public Safety and Commercial visitors expected how are we meeting their challenges? How are we future-proofing TETRA? Why is our new DIMETRA Express solution so important?

5 - Poppy Social Story: Honouring Those Who Keep Us Safe - Every day, Emergency Services personnel are using social media to inform the public and engage with the communities they serve. UK Police Twitter Award Winner, Sgt. Harry Tangye from Devon and Cornwall Police shares his top tips for building a loyal and engaged following on social media.

6 - PMRExpo 2017 stand tour - by drone - With over 4000 visitors, this year's PMRExpo was a real buzz. In case you missed it, or didn't see it all - here's a tour of our stand.

If you are receiving this blog post by email, the links to individual videos may be missing. You can access them in this YouTubePlaylist instead - Think Public Safety - Top 6 New Videos 2017

I hope you enjoyed this round-up.

Don’t forget, once you are registered for this blog community, you can comment on posts and subscribe to email alerts.

Best wishes for the new year!

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

Our 2017 EMEA Public Safety Survey Report is now available. It makes very interesting reading as Public Safety communications continue to transform. The report identifies key new trends in the growth of video and need for cloud-based apps. The survey also finds several other top-of mind subjects including high speed real-time data, multi-device multiagency communication, cybersecurity, social media and technology management. This first blog article about the survey focuses on video.

Growth in video
The report identifies substantial growth in the use of video, especially body worn. It shows consistent growth in the use of video across almost all types and substantial growth of 80% in responder-worn (body-worn) video since (from 2015 to 2017). Overall use of video has grown too. Today, around two thirds of agencies use some form of video - that has now risen from around half in 2015.

Although we are seeing growth across the board and this exceptional growth in body-worn video, fixed and in-vehicle video are still the top modes of video use:

Barriers to video usage
The report identifies the top barrier to video adoption as administrative overhead and cost, followed by concerns over privacy and new concerns over security of data against tampering.

Is cloud the answer?
Cloud-based applications for Public Safety are a relatively new offering. In the survey, we wanted to find out who is using them and identify key needs. The report finds that agencies are already using a wide spread of cloud based applications. In fact, over one-third of respondents tell us they are already using cloud based reporting, for example.

But what about video? Video comes high on the list of applications that respondents want in the cloud and almost half of respondents want to have cloud-based video storage. Over a third want video analytics there...

More about the report
This latest survey offers insight into technology trends in the public safety sector. The 2015 survey (conducted in late 2015) grew from similar surveys conducted in North America and was the first focused on Europe and Africa. The 2017 survey expanded the reach to Europe, Middle-East and Africa and now reflects the input of almost 200 public safety professionals in 46 countries.

The full report stretches to 12 pages, so I’m only able to share a short portion in this blog post. I plan to share more in future posts. Meanwhile, you can download the complete report here

David Parry is Director, EMEA Marketing

David is on LinkedIn

Follow @MotSolsEMEA on Twitter and look out for #EMEAPublicSafetySurvey

Join us at PMRExpo 2017, Kölnmesse, Köln, Germany, 28-30 November, stand C12

The PMRExpo Exhibition and Conference is widely recognised as being one of the biggest and most important events in the calendar for everyone involved in Professional Mobile Radio and Control Rooms. This year we are contributing to both the conference and the exhibition (stand C12.)

Be sure not to miss Christoph Thomas in the conference:

• Tuesday 28th November at 13:30 - Christoph Thomas is taking part in the Podium discussion 'PMR broadband communication – technical implementation’ (Christoph is Managing Director, Motorola Solutions Germany GmbH)

And in the exhibition? We know that data has the potential to create safer cities, thriving communities, and more efficient and effective operations. But the power of the data is unleashed when it’s converted into actionable intelligence, and is in the hands of those who need it, when they need it, so they can make the best informed decisions when and where it matters most. To do this, you need mobility. Mobile Intelligence harnesses data by unifying applications, networks, devices and services to transform critical operations and work processes.

We will be showing a set of solutions that are critical elements of our mobile intelligence framework. Here are some highlights:

• Purpose Built Devices – a comprehensive selection of TETRA handheld and mobile radios and pagers, DMR handhelds, P25 handhelds, LTE handhelds and Body Worn Devices. These are backed up with an extensive range of accessories and applications.
• High Performance Networks – featuring our new fully scalable TETRA system - DIMETRA X Core, our modular TETRA system - DIMETRA Express and our LXN 500 Ultra Portable LTE Infrastructure. This range means we can offer systems that suit every need from large future-proof TETRA networks through to the smallest backpack-portable broadband network.
• Mixed Reality Demonstrations – check out these demonstrations that show how immersive experiences enhance situation awareness. The first demonstration shows an intuitive way for a Future Fire Fighter Commander to get partly immersed in an incident in a burning building using Mixed-Reality Technology. Using virtual reality and video feeds, they can monitor the situation inside and around a burning building and make better informed decisions, faster. The second demonstration shows how a remote Future Police Incident Commander can gain instant understanding of a scene, allowing them to guide and follow a SWAT team throughout a rescue exercise. It uses wearable technology, drones, broadband and artificial intelligence together, to create a 3D holographic visualisation of the incident.
• Collaborating Seamlessly Over Borderless Networks – see how our WAVE™ interoperability platform, enables you to connect any device to any network and enable seamless workgroup collaboration.
• Next Generation Control Room Systems – experience how we support the field with more meaningful, real-time intelligence by extracting deeper insights from integrated voice, video and data; and integrate powerful real-time communications with advanced fleet control and dispatch functionalities.
• Maximise Your System And Devices Availability And Ensure Continuity – check out how our tiered levels of support help you address existing vulnerabilities, build cyber resilience, assess your risk posture, and understand how to respond and recover from intrusions.

Keep a watch out for new announcements and demos at the show too. You can find out more about these and keep up-to-date with news, videos and more during the show by visiting our dedicated event microsite – https://www.motorolasolutions.com/pmrexpo

We look forward to seeing you!

Axel Kukuk is Head of Government and Military Sales Germany at Motorola Solutions

Axel is on LinkedIn

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

8-9 November, St. James's Park, Newcastle, UK

British APCO continues to be the forum for public safety and civil contingencies communications engagement. This year we are taking a very active part in all the BAPCO events.

We recognise that the UK public safety community faces new challenges -  doing more with less, managing technology transition and being able to turn abundant data into increased operational efficiency and better outcomes.

At B-APCO Autumn, drop by and see us at the exhibition on level 4 of the Newcastle United Conference and Banqueting area to see how we are addressing these challenges:

Managing Technology Transition - Faced with a fast evolving technology landscape, many public sector organisations are moving away from traditional capital expense based IT procurement, opting instead for more flexible, subscription-based models. An OPEX-based service approach allows you to shift the focus from buying technology to buying outcomes. See how, with our cloud-based WAVE™ Control Room Solution (WAVE CRS), you can simplify your control room’s ESN upgrade, stay-up-to-date and save money.

Doing More With Less - Budgetary pressures combined with increased public expectations are driving the emergency services to do more with less. With the right technology your organisation can meet these challenges. Using the Pronto digital policing solution, you can increase your visibility and presence in the community through improved efficiency and productivity. With the Si500 video speaker microphone, your fire and rescue service can use captured video to enhance learning, improve incident analysis and simplify evidential capture for fire investigations. See these solutions and more devices in action.

Harnessing Abundant Data - Today, we have access to more data than ever before. The challenge is to turn the abundant data into actionable insights that lead to better outcomes for the community. See how, with the CommandCentral platform, you can take advantage of a broad set of capabilities, from intelligence that uncovers deeper insights, to records and content management that streamlines data collection and digital evidence management.

Don’t miss us in the conference either - Yann Marston is speaking on 'Transform Data into Safety, Creating an intelligence layer on legacy systems’ at 13:55 on Wednesday 8 November.

We look forward to seeing you there.

You can find out more and keep up-to-date about our participation through our dedicated B-APCO event microsite www.motorolasolutions.com/bapco and more about the Emergency Services Network (ESN) here

Fergus Mayne is Head of UK & Ireland Sales at Motorola Solutions

Fergus is on LinkedIn

Follow #ThinkPublicSafety, #BAPCO2017, @MotSolsEMEA, @BAPCOEvent on Twitter.