The Public Safety Spectrum Trust selected Cyren Call Communications Corp. as its advisor for negotiations with the eventual winner of the commercial-first responder broadband license in the 700 MHz auction, set to begin Jan. 16. "Although we have selected a single advisor, I'm hopeful...
The Federal Communications Commission latest efforts to improve wireless 911 location accuracy could be hindered by a widening chasm between public-safety organizations and the mobile-phone industry over contemplated changes and timeframes for achieving new guidelines.Already cellular carriers have taken issue with the agency's tentative...
The Federal Communications Commission agreed to improve the accuracy of locating wireless and Voice-over-Internet Protocol emergency callers, but concerns were raised over whether the agency's long-awaited re-examination of the enhanced 911 issue inadvertently could make matters worse if cellular carriers cannot technologically comply with...
A new report finds location-based wireless emergency service is not always reliable, one of several structural problems with the nation's 911 regime that lawmakers and public-safety officials said needs to be overhauled to accommodate new communications technologies and increased emergency calls.
"There is a clear...
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin plans to tackle the location-based E911 arena with new rules for testing the service, as well as a call for public comment on the technology itself. Martin's moves come shortly after his dismissal of an industry expert who...
WASHINGTON—Don’t blame the public-safety community if the 800 MHz reconfiguration process is not going smoothly, said Wanda McCarley, president of the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials. McCarley’s assertion follows a report that Sprint Nextel Corp. wants to extend the rebanding process by two years....
WASHINGTON—Verizon Wireless is pitching a plan to build a nationwide broadband public-safety network in the 700 MHz band, according to sources familiar with the plan. The spectrum has already been allocated to public safety as part of the transition to digital TV. The Verizon...
Space Data Corp. landed a $49 million contract to supply the U.S. Air Force with a communication system that sends radio-equipped industrial balloons filled with hydrogen or helium to between 12 miles and 62 miles above sea level. Space Data claims the balloons float...
WASHINGTON-The Association of Public-safety Communications Officials said it will examine challenges calling 911 using Voice over Internet Protocol and other advanced communications technologies as part of its Project Locate. Locate is an acronym for Locate Our Citizens At Times of Emergencies. APCO developed Project...
WASHINGTON-Cyren Call Communications Inc. believes it can convince Wall Street to pledge at least $5 billion for the U.S. Treasury in an effort to get around congressional opposition to its proposal to set aside 30 megahertz of spectrum in the upper 700 MHz band...
WASHINGTON-The Association of Public-safety Communications Officials endorsed a proposal submitted earlier this year by Cyren Call Communications Corp. that would set aside 30 megahertz of spectrum in the upper 700 MHz band for a next-generation public-safety network that industry would build and share with...
WASHINGTON—The Association of Public-safety Communications Officials endorsed Cyren Call Communications Corp.'s proposal that would set aside 30 megahertz of spectrum in the upper 700 band for a next-generation public-safety network that industry would build and share with first responders. This spectrum is currently slated...
WASHINGTON—Law enforcement and first-responder groups asked key Senate lawmakers to consider a private-sector plan to designate a block of spectrum in the 700 MHz band for a national wireless broadband public-safety network, one that would be shared with commercial wireless carriers and include an...
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.-The Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials International appointed George S. Rice Jr. its new executive director. Rice joins APCO International from the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments, where he currently serves as assistant executive director. APCO noted that Rice has more than...
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.—The Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials International appointed George S. Rice Jr. its new executive director. Rice joins APCO International from the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments, where he currently serves as assistant executive director. He has more than a decade of...
WASHINGTON-With each significant manmade or natural disaster, the problem of public-safety communications networks not being able to interact with each other is underscored. Indeed, even as the public-safety community was fighting to gain access to 24 megahertz of spectrum it had been promised, the...
WASHINGTON-A handful of public-safety organizations, led by the Association of Public-safety Communications Officials, sent a letter to the Federal Communications Commission urging the government agency to deny Sprint Nextel Corp.'s attempts to alter the start date of its 800 MHz rebanding efforts. In a...
WASHINGTON-Another deadline for offering enhanced 911 services has come and gone. This time, however, the Voice over Internet Protocol industry is the market begging for relief. In June, the Federal Communications Commission gave VoIP service providers a Nov. 28 deadline to provide E-911 capabilities...
Psion TeklogixPsion Teklogix appointed Ron Caines vice president of marketing to lead and manage the company's global product strategy and develop its corporate marketing initiatives. Caines previously was vice president of imaging at Psion Teklogix, following the company's acquisition of Symagery Microsystems Inc., and...
WASHINGTON-In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin said that he intends to create a new Homeland Security and Public Safety Bureau. Likewise, the issue of public-safety interoperable communications-including the return of analog TV spectrum-gained momentum in Congress. The FCC's Homeland Security...
WASHINGTON-In a change to his previously proposed bill, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) wants to move up by two years the date that broadcasters must give back the extra spectrum they were given for the transition to digital TV to the original date of Jan....
DENVER-The Denver Police Department and the Consolidated Communications Network of Colorado each used the 71st annual Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials International show here last week to showcase their successes in public-safety communications. DPD demonstrated its M/A-COM Inc.-built radio communications system, which serves Denver...
DENVER-While much attention at the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials International show last week in Denver was given to interoperability, at least one inventor was pushing something else. Though his technology is not new, Joe Miller's digital magnetic frequency transmissions have never been applied...
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.-John Newman, executive director of the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials International, resigned his position with the group.Newman, who became executive director in March 2004, said he is resigning for personal health reasons. His resignation becomes effective in mid-August.
