NENA Launches Next-Generation E911 Program
In a move strongly supported by FCC Chmn. Powell, the National Emergency Number Assn. (NENA) kicked off its Next Generation (NG) E911 Program on Wed. It urged industry leaders to work with federal, state and local officials and NENA members to update and improve the technical, operational and policy foundations of the nation’s 911 system. NENA officials said they had approached a number of groups and organizations and now were urging them to join forces. The early program partners include SBC, TruePosition, Vonage, TeleCommunications Systems, TelControl and HBF Group.
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“The Next Generation E911 Program is an open consultative process to improve our nation’s planning, leadership and innovation in the delivery of a fully functional 911 system that responds any time, anywhere from any device,” NENA Pres. Bill McMurray said. NENA has been working to explore how new technologies, services and capabilities could improve 911 calls.
Powell said service providers should work “closely with state and local governments to ensure that [E911] services are deployed expeditiously and factored into the development of next-generation technologies. We are in an era of rapid innovation and expanding consumer choices and our nation’s 911 system must keep pace with these advances.” Powell said the responsibility for E911 implementation should be “shared by all involved -- landline and wireless telephone companies, Internet-based service providers, public safety answering points, equipment manufacturers, and local, state and federal agencies.”
The NG E911 Program will be organized into 3 groups - - policy, technical and operations roundtables -- which will meet a maximum of 4 times per year and set a year-to- year agenda to achieve their respective goals. “The work of the roundtables is to enhance, not replace, the work of other NENA programs, activities and committees,” NENA said. All roundtable participants will provide one representative per organization for the management team, made up of top NENA elected leadership and staff directors.
The policy roundtable will focus on: (1) The financial needs and business models of the nation’s locally managed 911 system. (2) A national VoIP E911 public policy plan for regulators. (3) Jurisdictional leadership and consumer expectations of 911, including local response and federal and state coordination, as well as international aspects. Regulatory Committee Chmn. Anthony Haynes said the E911 sector shouldn’t wait for regulations to change E911 technology and deployments. “The public policy discussion must keep up with the technology,” he said.
The technical roundtable will look into: (1) An action plan on the needed standards, systems requirements and definitions for next generation E911 systems. (2) Providing guidance in next generations E911 trials and demonstrations projects. (3) Product development cycles and requirements for E911 service. NENA Technical Issues Committee Chmn. Billy Ragsdale said NENA had developed “911 future path plans” to define how E911 systems and service should evolve to meet requirements.
The NG E911 program’s operations roundtable plans to spend 2005: (1) Developing operations policies and procedures for the next generation PSAPs. (2) Helping PSAPs deal with emerging communications services. (3) Focusing on the needs of people with disabilities. (4) Developing education materials and programs. “With the increasing changes in how people choose to communicate with each other, we must develop operational standards, guidelines and requirements as part of the evolution to next generation E911 system,” said Operations Committee Chmn. Norman Forshee.