Public safety applicatons evolve to include push-to-video for group communications

Looking to capture a share of the public safety market while offering products designed to take advantage of LTE capabilities, Nokia launched its public safety specific Nokia Group Communications portfolio.

Building on push-to-talk, which allows for near real-time communications between a large group, the biggest new feature is push-to-video, which Nokia says can support 1,000 active users per single server; the platform also supports 20,000 active push-to-talk users.

Other features include a dispatch console designed to draw in voice, video and CCTV; alignment with Third Generation Partnership Project standards; call set up with latency less than 300 milliseconds; and end-to-end encryption at the application layer. If LTE network availability is limited or intermittent, the entire line up is also said to support 3G and Wi-Fi connections.

Henri Tallon, head of public sector at Nokia, said:: “Nokia Group Communications further bolsters our comprehensive public safety offer with capabilities that will help first responders react more effectively in a crisis. With new applications like push-to-video, fully standards-ready, we can ensure public safety teams are better informed of a situation and therefore enhance safety and security for all concerned.”

Earlier this year a report from Current Analysis pegged Nokia “as a clear leader in the public safety space, being named number one by a wide margin,” based on a survey of 100 global service providers.

Peter Jarich, VP of consumer and infrastructure at Current Analysis Jarich, said “Given the costs involved, few public safety agencies will be able to fund the rollout of a robust communications network on their own; they will look to service providers for help in leveraging existing networks and network assets.  It’s not surprising, then, that the rollout of public safety networks is uppermost in the minds of operators now.”

The product portfolio is said to provide LTE-based services, but what about in disaster situations where the LTE network is physically unavailable or so congested it can’t support mission critical communications?

Nokia and other equipment vendors have developed what are essentially LTE networks-in-a-box. The Nokia Compact Network weights about 5 kilograms and can be operated with around 100 watts of power. The pop-up network is designed to support 400 active users and cover 75 kilometers.