Subject: [NEXTEL-1] NYC tries cell phone finder

From: [email-masked]
Date: Sat, 30 Aug 2003 12:42:20 -0400

NYC tries cell phone finder
BY Dibya Sarkar
Aug. 29, 2003

New York City is testing a new system that will be able to triangulate the
location of cell phone callers, the next phase of its wireless 911 emergency
services.

The rollout, however, depends on ensuring that private cellular communications
carriers have implemented certain technologies for pinpointing wireless callers as
mandated by the Federal Communications Commission, said Richard Dale, chief
executive officer of iXP Corp., based in Lawrenceville, N.J.

The company, which helped developed the city's Enhanced 911 service in 1995, was
hired by the police department to be the systems integrator and project manager
for the cell phone locator test. It is partnering with RCC Consultants Inc. of
Woodbridge, N.J., which is also providing software, consulting and testing
services. The contract is worth $700,000, Dale said.

Currently, city dispatchers or call agents can only see a caller's phone number.
Dale said when Phase II of the wireless E911 service is fully operational, which
could be later this year or early next year, dispatchers will see a wireless
caller's phone number, location data associated with that phone, a time stamp and
the age of the last positioning report for that phone.

The city presents challenges because of its skyscrapers and underground subways,
he said, but he added that advanced technologies, including cell phones equipped
with global positioning satellite antennas, are improving the accuracy of a
caller's position.

iXP, he said, is providing geographic information systems software that will
instantly display a caller's location data on a digital map. But another critical
component of the contract is verifying that wireless telephone providers are
meeting FCC guidelines.

"So what we'll do is we'll go to a location in testing the system, then we'll make
911 calls from around the city — make it on the Verizon Wireless network, the AT&T
network, T-Mobile USA Inc. network, as examples — and we'll make sure the
information that we're being provided is proper, and each cellular provider has to
certify that each is compliant."

In addition to the three providers mentioned above, iXP will also verify if
Sprint, Nextel Communications and Cingular Wireless, which also provide services
in the city, are compliant.

New York City receives about 10.3 million 911 emergency calls from landline and
wireless phones each year, for an average of about 33,000 calls daily, Dale said.
On Aug. 14, the day of the power blackout that blanketed a good deal of New York,
and parts of the Midwest and Canada, New York City received 90,000 emergency
calls, Dale said.

Advocates for E911 services, including many in Congress, are pushing for more
federal investment and assistance to help local communities develop better
systems.

In 2000, the National Emergency Number Association said 150 million calls were
made to 911, 45 million of them by wireless telephone users. In five years, the
association predicts wireless calls to 911 will double to 100 million calls and
surpass the number generated by landline users.

http://www.fcw.com/geb/articles/2003/0825/web-nyc-08-29-03.asp

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