Wireless technology is on the cusp of fulfilling its promise for homeland security, with the District of Columbia’s office of the Chief Technology Officer’s partnership with Motorola Inc. and Flarion Technologies Inc.
It is the first high-speed wireless broadband contract for public safety in the country.
Apart from setting the stage to install the networks in major cities around the country, the move also highlights the demand by both the industry and the public-safety community for more radio airwaves for the services.
“Our first responders give their all everyday,” said Suzanne Peck, CTO for the District of Columbia. “We owe them the best available tools to do the difficult job of keeping us all safe.”
The arrangement also raises the profile of Flarion Technologies, whose protocol offering has engaged the high and mighty of the industry as the possible next big play in high-speed wireless services. In bidding for the D.C. contract, Flarion’s Flash-OFDM technology edged out other big players’ offerings, including Lucent Technologies Inc.’s CDMA2000 1x EV-DO service.
Lucent provided gear for Verizon Wireless’ recently launched EV-DO service in the D.C. market.
“Compared with Flarion, EV-DO has a lag in performance,” said Peter Roy, deputy CTO for D.C. “Once the smoke cleared, Motorola and Flarion were the only ones left standing.”
“This is a wireless equivalent of a wired broadband network,” said Ronny Haraldsvik, senior director of global marketing at Flarion.
The District hopes to launch the first phase of service in April in a portion of the 61-square-mile district, Roy said, with plans to cover the rest of the city by the end of August. The network, which covers 10 transmission sites, will involve a variety of public-safety agencies, including the Secret Service and Park Police.
Explaining its expected dynamics, Roy offered an air-to-ground communication scenario where the Park Police can transmit information from an aircraft camera to a ground vehicle using a wireless device like a personal digital assistant or wireless laptop. In another example, he said a bomb robot could walk through dangerous areas like a building and transmit the video wirelessly to public-safety officials.
“This is a major step toward delivering critical information to police, fire and emergency medical services workers wherever they need it to safeguard our lives,” said Peck.
The service will operate in the 700 MHz band, which will enable messaging, voice and car-to-car video, said Steve Gorecky, a Motorola spokesman.
Flarion will provide the base stations and PC cards that can fit into any existing PDAs and laptops. Motorola will provide mobile data computers, which enhance its Airmobile applications that manage large file transfers and fleet software management more efficiently. The computers include the MW800 and ML900, Gorecky said.
Flarion’s big play in the $2.7 million deal is primarily thanks to public-safety leader Motorola’s decision to pair with an outside vendor, Roy said. New players rarely win over more experienced companies in delicate public-safety assignments.
Roy noted Flarion also has associated with big-name players like Cisco Systems Inc. and Nortel Networks, which testifies to the quality of its products.
Flash-OFDM also is one of the technologies in the priority list of Nextel Communications Inc. as it mulls its choices for next-generation services.
A wireless observer once described Flash-OFDM as “CDMA on steroids.” The downside of the protocol has been its inability as yet to gain traction directly in handsets, relying so far on the use of PC cards.
In spite of the Motorola-Flarion triumph in the Washington deal, Roy said the public-safety community wants to use equipment available from a variety of vendors.
“One of the key attributes of the contract is to make the technology openly available to other vendors through licensing,” said Roy. This way other companies can compete, improve and standardize the technology as well as achieve economies of scale.
Flarion’s technology is proprietary and would have to be licensed to be built by other vendors.
He explained that as the deployment hits America’s heartland, the technology will contend with more rugged terrain like forests, rivers, mountains and other forms of topography.
That also accounts for the public-safety community’s call for greater radio spectrum and the formation of the Spectrum Coalition for Public Safety, which has more than 20 city-members, including reps from New York, Philadelphia, Denver and San Diego. The coalition is doing battle against commercial concerns.
“The reason for the coalition is to show we have support and to make the vendors know that it’s a big market,” said Roy. He added that there is room for research and development.
“That is why we are asking Congress to stop the (700 MHz) auction to commercial carriers,” Roy said.
