FirstNet Town Hall
By Matthew Schreiner
Presenters: David Buchanan, Susan Swenson, Jeffrey Bratcher, Richard Stanek, Kevin McGinnis
This update to FirstNet’s progress was a high-level summary of many other deeper-level FirstNet presentations provided throughout the conference. The five-member panel provided a 30-minute update, followed by 30 minutes of questions from the audience. The panel’s comments and answers to questions communicated the following very clear messages:
- Members of the Board are pleased with the progress made in the last 18 months.
- FirstNet’s primary role is to ensure that AT&T delivers all the things the project promised to deliver to public safety practitioners.
- FirstNet will remain committed to being an advocate for public safety as long as the network exists.
- FirstNet must ensure the service provides interoperability, security, resilience and quality of service, all at a reasonable price.
- There are three groups from which accountability is required for FirstNet to be successful:
- FirstNet: accountable to public safety to ensure advocacy, good governance and excellent service
- AT&T: accountable to FirstNet to deliver what it promised in its RFP response
- Public Safety: accountable to participate in good faith and take ownership in the solution
Those messages seemed to provide the audience with a feeling of confidence that FirstNet is on the right track.
Tags
APCO 2017