Subject: [NEXTEL-1] SAFECOM unveils interoperability requirements

From: [email-masked]
Date: Wed, 28 Apr 2004 02:29:36 -0400

SAFECOM unveils interoperability requirements

By Glenn Bischoff

IWCE/MRT, Apr 27 2004

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s SAFECOM Program yesterday
issued a Statement of Requirements designed to guide public-safety
agencies nationwide through the unwieldy process of achieving
interoperable communications.
The SOR, for the first time, provides the nation’s approximately 50,000
public-safety agencies with a “shared vision” in terms of how to use
“in-the-field information resources” more efficiently when responding to
a variety of emergency events, according to SAFECOM. The SOR also offers
guidance on how the communications industry can better align its
research and development efforts with the needs of public safety.

The 192-page document presents in detail a variety of emergency
scenarios—and the suggested responses—that first responders on the local
level, regardless of whether they are located in rural areas or major
cities, will likely encounter at some point. The emphasis on local first
responders was by design, according to SAFECOM Program Director David
Boyd.
“We want to get communities at the lowest possible level to sign on to a
set of definitions for interoperability," Boyd said. “The reason is that
if you’re going to solve interoperability in the states, you have to
start from the bottom up.”

The reason, according to Boyd, is that more than 90% of the wireless
public-safety infrastructure is “owned, operated and maintained”
primarily on the local level. “If you don’t have them on board, you
can’t build to national interoperability. They’re essentially the key
drivers.” Boyd said.

In addition to providing public safety with a road map to
interoperability, the SOR also provides a useful tool when seeking
funding at the local level, according to Boyd.

“This provides the document and—we hope—part of the business case that
they can take to their funding activities, whether it’s the state
legislature, the city council or the county commissioners,” Boyd said.
“They’ll be able to say, ‘This is what we ought to have, this is a
national document that talks about how we should be able to
[communicate].’”

Boyd described the SOR as a “critical step,” but reminded that it is
merely a first step designed to provide a baseline for future
iterations. The next step, which will begin this year, will determine
the level of interoperability nationwide. “In the course of doing that,
we intend to create a methodology that we can continuously update, so we
can have an annual scorecard on the level of interoperability in the
United States.”

Though compliance with the SOR is voluntary, Boyd urged every
public-safety agency nationwide to put it into practice. “We’re
convinced you’re not going to resolve interoperability in any meaningful
way in the United States unless you do it from the lowest level up.”

http://iwce-mrt.com/ar/radio_safecom_unveils_interoperability/index.htm

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