Subject: [NEXTEL-1] FCC convenes NRIC VII to focus on enhanced 911

From: Marcelrf <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 01 Apr 2004 15:38:04 -0500

FCC convenes NRIC VII to focus on enhanced 911

April 01, 2004 12:33 PM EST

WASHINGTON—The seventh iteration of the FCC's Network Reliability & 
Interoperability Council convened Tuesday with a wireless chief 
executive, Timothy Donahue of Nextel Communications Inc., as chair 
for the first time. 

This is "the first time a wireless company has assumed the 
leadership role. It is a testimony to the growing importance of 
wireless networks," said FCC Chairman Michael Powell. 

The main focus of NRIC VII will be wireless enhanced 911 with a 
continuing look at homeland security and network reliability, said 
Powell. 

"In this time of heightened national concern for public safety it is 
only proper for us to focus a large portion of NRIC's energy on the 
reliability and security of our nation's emergency services 
communications networks. The limitations of our existing E911 
implementations are well known," said Powell. NRIC will 
also "examine the homeland security best practices that have been 
available for the past year, follow up on issues that were 
identified by the previous council, and improve the best practices 
to better fortify our critical communications infrastructure. Even 
as homeland security concerns loom, the reliability of 
communications under normal circumstances cannot escape our 
attention. NRIC has a long history of producing best practices in 
this area." 

FCC Commissioner Michael Copps appeared to stress again that if 
companies do not adopt the best practices developed by NRIC, the 
Federal Communications Commission might be forced to mandate their 
use. While an NRIC member from BellSouth Corp. expressed concern 
about this stance, there does seem to be a recognition that when 
best practices are not used and problems occur, the urge to mandate 
best practices grows. 

NRIC, made up of industry executives, has been meeting for more than 
a decade to collect data on and examine solutions to network 
outages. Its portfolio of issues has steadily increased and grown 
more important with the advent of homeland security. 

Also new to NRIC are members of the public-safety community. Steve 
Marzolf, president of the National Association of State E911 
Coordinators, said there are limitations in the 911 systems because 
many public-safety answering points are using decades-old 
technology. 

"The PSAPs are struggling to keep up with the demands of our public 
and our systems," said Marzolf. "The PSAPs are increasingly trapped 
by 1970s technology." 

http://rcrnews.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?newsId=17538

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