Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Moving To One Beat Emergency communications moving into tighter coordination, with wireless as a featured performer.

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 20 Apr 2003 12:30:17 -0400

Moving To One Beat Emergency communications moving into tighter coordination, with
wireless as a featured performer.

BY MARK ROCKWELL
APRIL 15, 2003

WASHINGTON—In the past, the emergency communications arena in the United
States was like a complex group of jazz bands, performing troupes of people in
small towns and large cities acting largely as independent artists.

Now, government and private industry are making some unprecedented moves
to turn the uncoordinated performances into a smooth, in-synch orchestra.

For years, local emergency responders had no national leader or arranger for
their actions and had to improvise. Wireless communications always had a
virtuoso position in emergency response issues and will have an even greater
role in the coming months.

While a spontaneous, seat-of-the-pants performance can be as exhilarating as a
jazz concert, it is downright alarming for the thousands of emergency responders,
wireless carriers and the local, state and federal governments trying to help
people in times of crisis. The number of moving parts in the response to just one
emergency call, wireless or otherwise, is astounding. Depending on the
emergency, coordination is required among carriers, federal agencies, state and
local governments and responding teams and individuals.

Many of those efforts are done via some form of wireless technology, from a
possible call from a cell phone that sets off the response to the radio systems
used by firefighters, police and medical personnel.

There are many links in the chain, but there is an increasing realization that the
confusion that reigned among emergency responders, wireless phone users,
wireless carriers and government officials on Sept. 11, 2001, could have been
minimized if only more attention were paid to the system in the few years prior.

Now there is great hope at all levels of government and private industry that the
next few years will see the rise of an unprecedented coordinated, integrated,
national wireless emergency communications system. But there remain signs that
more work needs to be done.

After months of education by many in the communications, wireless and E911
industries, as well as coordinating efforts in government, "the nexus between
homeland security and E911 has been made," says Mike Amarosa, senior vice
president of public affairs at TruePosition, a company that makes location
systems for wireless phones.

Amarosa has been watching the E911 world from the time it was an
uncoordinated patchwork of radio systems connected only to the wireline network.
He capped off a 24-year career with the New York City Police Department as
deputy commissioner for technological development. He spent years trying to get
E911 and emergency response noticed as important issues that needed to be
dealt with at the highest levels of government. In the last year, "things have
really started to jell," he says, as the federal government takes up funding
issues for emergency response centers–and staffing for them–as well as other
efforts under way at the FCC and other agencies.

For instance, legislation that further embeds wireless technology in the nation's
emergency response systems has been moving in Congress in the last few
weeks. An April 7 draft of a supplemental House Appropriations bill–for the first
time, according to Amarosa–designates 911 communications centers and their
staffs as emergency "first responders." The designation may seem like a small
one, but it is a hard-fought victory for local governments everywhere that allows
them access to federal funds for their operations. While that designation is not
permanent, it could mark a better understanding by Congress of the entire
emergency response process.

Freeing Funds Additionally, the Senate also tapped $10 million to include
wireless, Internet and advanced communications technology into the country's
local and national emergency alert. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS)
also has made grant funding available for public safety network interconnection
through the end of this month.

As Congress and other government agencies ponied up real money to pay for
more wireless options in emergency services, a new study released April 9 shows
emergency responders are using their equipment more effectively. The study,
called the State Interoperability Scorecard, was released by the Public Safety
Wireless Network Program and gives the states an aggregate score of 57.65 vs.
40.82 in 2001. The score is based on assessment of several areas, such as
shared systems development, coordination and partnerships, funding, spectrum,
standards and technology and security. While one state may be more effective in
systems development, another could be further along with funding mechanisms.
(PSWN is a joint initiative of the Department of Justice and the Department of
the Treasury.)

The study shows the environment for land mobile radio systems used by police
and firefighters is steadily improving, says Rick Murphy, PSWN program manager
at Homeland Security. The study is a snapshot of how things have changed since
9/11, he says, noting the report indicates progress in a range of areas.

Hard Stand The good news still is tempered by some complicated, unresolved
issues, however. The FCC has had to take a hard line in the last few months on
wireless carriers that haven't made good on their promises to install E911 Phase
2 technology. Public safety answering points–the local fire/police departments
that answer 911 calls–have had issues in funding their activities and requesting
enhanced services.

Things could get more complicated as the Department of Homeland Defense
comes online and begins its duties. Other agencies are working to smooth the
coordination of DHS operations and their own. The FCC, in particular, has been
working on a number of important technical issues for some time with DHS,
according to FCC spokespeople. The fact that DHS is an aggregation of other,
already established government agencies is a big help in that coordination.
"We've had productive relationships" with many of the same people now at DHS,
while they were in other pre-DHS agency spots, says Linda Blair, deputy director
of Homeland Security policy council at the FCC. "We anticipate that relationship
will continue and grow" as DHS become more established, she says.

Ongoing talks There are ongoing discussions between DHS and other agencies
that will be affected by the new department. The use of spectrum and
coordination of emergency response will be somewhat split between DHS and the
FCC.

The FCC essentially takes care of regulation of commercial carriers and their
efforts to roll out 911 technology on the network side, while DHS oversees the
response from fire, police and other emergency respondents. PSAPs are a
potentially difficult area for the two agencies, some observers say. The FCC has
noted that PSAPs present a significant issue for implementing E911 systems. The
commission's report on the status of E911 implementation, done by Dale
Hatfield, former head of the FCC's office of engineering and technology, noted
that PSAPs were underfunded and could be a major factor in the speed of some
implementation.

Because wireless carriers depend on PSAPs to formally request and accommodate
E911 Phase 2 services, DHS' impact will be felt, they say. "The FCC feels it
doesn't have a lot of influences on local PSAPs. The FCC can't tell PSAPs what to
do. Homeland Defense might be able to," says David Don, an associate at
telecom law firm Wilkie, Farr, & Gallagher.

That distinction rings somewhat true at the FCC and DHS. "E911 is the FCC.
Those issues are being handled by the FCC," says DHS' Murphy. "Homeland
Defense is primarily land mobile radio. That distinction will remain in the
future–the FCC will retain its E911 initiative, while we'll continue to address land
mobile services," he says.

A wireless industry source with regular contact at DHS who wished to remain
anonymous says the PSAPs "need a grandfather" in the federal emergency
response system to help them get funding and nail down their role in the future.
DHS probably will be that mentor through the Federal Emergency Management
Agency, which officially was absorbed by DHS in March.

The FCC is moving this month to give DHS an education on E911 issues. The
agency is hosting a meeting that will discuss in detail how PSAPs and carriers
have implemented wireless E911 systems. The day-long event April 29 will bring
together many different parties to discuss Phase I and Phase II implementation
of E911, FCC officials say. The commission is hoping to get a number of
attendees from DHS.

National Interoperability Scorecard State-by-State Breakdown
2003 National Interoperability

See:
http://www.wirelessweek.com/index.asp?layout=article&articleid=CA292146&spacedesc=Features&stt=000

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