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Public safety answering points have a 24x7x365 schedule. They must be operational 100% of the time. After all, lives and reputations are on the line. PSAPs can’t afford lost time if the server that hosts their CAD, ANI, ALI and other key systems goes down. A typical off-the-shelf server provides an uptime level of 99%, which sounds great until you do the math. Ninety-nine percent availability works out to an average annual downtime of almost four days. That’s 87 hours and 40 minutes to be exact. And, you don’t get to choose those hours.

This webcast will discuss the whys and hows of making sure your servers are up to the demands of a PSAP environment. Strategies to maximize the availability of mission-critical applications and minimize the possibility of disruptions caused by server failure that will be discussed include the advantages and disadvantages of:

• Off-the-shelf and hardened servers;
• Cluster technology;
• Virtualization;
• Fault-tolerant hardware; and
• High-availability software.

Speaker Daniel Kusnetzky Daniel Kusnetzky is a distinguished analyst and founder of the Kusnetzky Group LLC, where he is responsible for research, publications, and operations. Kusnetzky has been involved with information technology since the late 1970s and is a well-known author of IT industry research, insight and opinion. Before founding Kusnetzky Group, he held positions as the vice president of Research Services at The 451 Group, executive vice president of Corporate and Marketing Strategy at Open-Xchange, vice president of System Software Research at International Data Corporation, and Intel/UNIX business manager at Digital Equipment Corporation.

Sponsor Hundreds of public safety and government agencies worldwide rely on Stratus to keep their mission-critical applications up and running 24x7x365. Our fault-tolerant servers and high availability software provide uptime assurance for applications including computer aided dispatch (CAD), records management systems (RMS), mobile communications and more. For more information, visit www.stratus.com.

Editor’s note: On May 7, the Senate confirmed Ajit Pai and Jessica Rosenworcel to fill two vacancies on the FCC. They fill slots created by the departure of Michael Copps, who retired at the end of 2011, and Meredith Attwell Baker, who left almost a year ago for an executive post with Comcast. Learn more.

Statement from FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski on the Senate Confirmation of Ajit Pai and Jessica Rosenworcel to the Commission:

“I want to congratulate Ajit Pai and Jessica Rosenworcel on their Senate confirmation and welcome them to the Commission. They bring deep knowledge of our sector, and proven track records of accomplishment. President Obama made an outstanding choice in their nominations, and I look forward to working with them.”

Statement of Commissioner Robert M. McDowell on the Confirmations of Jessica Rosenworcel and Ajit Pai:

I extend my heartfelt congratulations to Jessica Rosenworcel and Ajit Pai on their confirmations as commissioners of the Federal Communications Commission by the United States Senate. Their experience and credentials will be an asset to the Commission.

Now that we have a full five member FCC, I look forward to all of us rolling up our sleeves and getting to work on several important matters facing the Commission for the benefit of American consumers, including but certainly not limited to: implementation of the new incentive auction legislation, finally putting the power of unlicensed use of the TV “White Spaces” into consumers’ hands, adopting sensible universal service contribution reform, modernizing our media ownership rules to reflect the competitive marketplace of the Digital Age, important transactions requiring expeditious review, and much, much more.

Having worked with Jessica and Ajit here at the Commission, I know that they are very talented and knowledgeable public servants who will be able to hit the ground running. I look forward to working with them on some of the most interesting and important public policy matters facing America.

FCC Commissioner Mignon L. Clyburn on the Confirmation of New FCC Commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel and Ajit Pai:

“I applaud the United States Senate for confirming President Obama’s most recent nominees to the FCC, and I wish to join my colleagues in congratulating Jessica and Ajit on their confirmation. I am anxious to begin working with them both, and am relieved that after long last, this Commission will once again be operating at full strength.”

Susan Montoya Bryan, Associated Press

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez and state forestry officials on Monday unveiled a new statewide email notification system for alerting residents of potential dangers from wildfire.

Martinez said the effort is aimed at raising awareness about the high fire danger around the state. With last year being the worst fire season in New Mexico’s recorded history with hundreds of square miles charred, she said access to timely and accurate information will be key for limiting the risk this year.

“Whether it’s here in the Albuquerque bosque, in rural or populated areas around our state or up in the mountains, we all have a duty to do what we can to inform, to help and to promote wildfire awareness,” she said during a news conference at the Rio Grande Nature Center in Albuquerque.

New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona and other western states are bracing for a busy fire season given that drought conditions are spreading across the region. Many counties across the West have established reverse 911 and email notification systems to warn of wildfires, but New Mexico appears to have the only statewide notification system.

The creation of the email system comes six weeks after embers from a prescribed fire in Colorado sparked a blaze that killed three people, blackened 6 square miles and damaged or destroyed nearly two dozen homes.

In the case of the Lower North Fork fire southwest of Denver, county officials are revamping procedures following problems with an automated call system that was intended to send evacuation messages to residents.

In New Mexico, the State Forestry Division already pushes out fire notifications through its Twitter account and Facebook page, but officials expect thousands more to be reached through the email system.

State Forester Tony Delfin said it’s a big job getting out information when there are multiple fires burning around the state, as was the case last year when New Mexico experienced two historic fires — the Las Conchas and Donaldson blazes.

“During the initial attack of a fire, the information needs to get out to the public,” he said. “Prompt and accurate information can save lives.”

State forestry officials said they were simply looking for another way to get more information to the public than what they could get across in a 130-character Tweet.

Residents can sign up on the agency’s website. All that’s needed is an email address, first and last name and county or zip code.

Whenever there’s a fire on state land, those who are signed up will receive an email alert with details about the fire, its location, estimated size and any other important details such as potential threats to communities.

So far this year, nearly 150 fires have charred more than 7,600 acres in New Mexico. That’s a fraction of what had burned by this time last year. Over the past two fiscal years, Delfin said some 1,440 fires have blacked more than 1 million acres on state and private property alone.

Forestry spokesman Dan Ware said the new email system is compatible with smartphones and tablets.

“We’re trying to do as much as we can to cover the state and really anybody who wants this information,” he said.

Martinez described the system as innovative, saying people with family members in other states will also be able to keep up with the latest fire information to find out if their loved ones are safe.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.

WASHINGTON, May 8 — Federal Communications Commission has issued a rule called: Review of the Emergency Alert System.

The rule, published in the Federal Register on May 7 by Marlene H. Dortch, Secretary, states: “In this document, the Federal Communications Commission (Commission) amends its rules governing the Emergency Alert System (EAS) rules so that EAS Participants may, but are not required to, employ the text-to-speech (TTS) functions described in the EAS-CAP Industry Group (ECIG) Implementation Guide.”

For more information, contact Lisa Fowlkes, Deputy Bureau Chief, Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau, at 202/418-7452, or by email at Lisa.Fowlkes@fcc.gov.

The full text of the notice can be found at http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2012-05-07/html/2012-10622.htm.

Copyright © 2012 LexisNexis, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All Rights Reserved.

By Tara García Mathewson tgarciamathewson@dailyherald.com

South Elgin residents dialing 911 probably haven’t noticed a difference this week, but police and fire officials are working to iron out the kinks of a new dispatch arrangement.

Calls for the police started being routed through Kane County’s emergency communications center — KaneCOMM — at 1 p.m. Monday, and calls for the fire protection district were sent through Elgin’s dispatch center starting Tuesday.

South Elgin Police Chief Chris Merritt said everything seems to be working well so far, but he estimates about six months of transition to tweak any reception issues and align records management to the new arrangement. Behind the scenes, computer operations need to be improved as well, but after the first couple of days, Merritt said he is pleased with the result.

“We’re happy with what we’ve got,” Merritt said. “We look forward to a good relationship with KaneCOMM for a long time.”

There were eight dispatchers when South Elgin started planning to transfer its dispatch operations. Merritt said that number went down through attrition with a few people leaving of their own accord. Three dispatchers joined the KaneCOMM team in Geneva, two stayed in the South Elgin police records department and one took a position as a public service aide with the police.

Kane County dispatches for 17 other public safety agencies.

Merritt expects the village will save more than $200,000 each year without its dispatch center and costs will pretty closely match that. The major savings come from avoiding more than $1 million in system upgrades that would have been needed in coming years.

While South Elgin has been exploring this possibility for more than a decade, the change seemed especially relevant this year with tighter-than-ever budgets.

“Very few towns our size have their own dispatch centers,” Merritt said.

“It just wasn’t a cost-effective solution anymore.”

South Elgin and Countryside Fire Protection District will pay $55,000 a year for Elgin’s dispatch services, agreed upon for similar reasons as the police department’s.

Elgin Assistant Fire Chief Dave Schmidt said the new arrangement will make it easier to cooperate and share equipment.

“If we’re all on the same frequency everyone is notified simultaneously,” Schmidt said. “You get the full benefit.”

Residents should not do anything differently when they dial 911. Their calls will simply be answered in different locations.

Copyright © 2012 LexisNexis, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All Rights Reserved.

David Seifman, The New York Post

Fed up with repeated questions about a $500,000 consultant’s report on the shortcomings of the 911 system, Mayor Bloomberg said yesterday he never read it.

The admission came after the mayor was asked about the study’s claim that erroneous data had been provided to officials.

“I can’t answer because I don’t know what they’re talking about,” he answered.

When a reporter persisted and said, “It sounds like what you’re saying is that some of the information in the report is incorrect,” she was interrupted.

“I didn’t say that,” Bloomberg declared. “I didn’t even bother to read it.”

He said the bottom line is that FDNY ­response times are faster than ever and crime is at ­record low levels.

The administration released the report after weeks of refusing to make public what it called a working “draft.”

Copyright © 2012 LexisNexis, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All Rights Reserved.

• Visually-impaired call taker is an industry leader with more than 30 years on-the-job
• Lolly assisted in the testing of the latest version of the Sentinel Patriot 3.2 call processing solution

TEMECULA, Calif., April 30, 2012—Cassidian Communications, an EADS North America company, is pleased to recognize Junior Lolly from Liberty County, Fla., 9-1-1 Communications Center, as the Cassidian Communications Dispatcher of the Month.

“One of the reasons Liberty County 9-1-1 is unique is the fact that its lead call taker has been on the job since 1980 and has been blind since the age of 12. Today, Lolly processes more than 300 emergency and administrative calls a day, which is more than three times the amount he processed in his earlier days at the center.” said Brandon Hoquist, product line manager, Cassidian Communications.

As technology advances entered the 9-1-1 center, Lolly’s job became more complicated as additional programs and monitors were introduced. Today, Lolly uses new technology designed to assist the visually impaired.

“He never sends a responder to the wrong place and can tell someone where to turn by landmarks,” said Stephen Ford, 9-1-1 coordinator, Liberty County 9-1-1 Communications Center. “He has only asked me where an address is located three or four times since I have worked with him. He does a better job than any sighted call takers I know.”

A renowned professional, Lolly says that no single call stands out among the thousands he has taken—from natural disasters such as hurricanes, tornadoes and lightening storms, to emergencies related to house fires, grave injuries and serious accidents.

“I’m not in this for the money,” Lolly states. “This is not a job where you get rich. I do it to help people and to be there for the community. It’s a calling. It’s a desire I was born with.”

The Liberty County 9-1-1 Center recently completed testing of the latest version of the Sentinel^® Patriot^® call processing solution, release 3.2. Built to support up to 100 call taking positions, the Sentinel Patriot 3.2 solution is designed to handle up to two million calls per year, is fault tolerant with no single point of failure and delivers scalable, redundant, remote survivable systems with ultra-high reliability. This feature rich solution provides call centers such as Liberty County with a clear path to next generation 9-1-1 (NG9-1-1) services as they become available industry-wide.

Hoquist continued, “Cassidian Communications recognizes usability as one of the utmost needs for accurate and efficient operations in the call center and is a key differentiator when comparing our products to those of other solution providers.”

Liberty County 9-1-1 has been a Cassidian Communications customer since 2005 and currently is operating the latest Sentinel Patriot solution on its three call taking positions. The 9-1-1 center is responsible for taking emergency and administrative calls for services from the approximately 8,000 county residents. The center also is responsible for dispatching calls for all law enforcement, emergency medical services and fire response for the county.

The Sentinel Patriot solution supports single- and multiple-site 9-1-1 centers as well as geographically diverse, centralized and hosted solutions. The solution is NENA-compliant and is an IETF standards-based IP-centric call management suite designed to handle all calls seamlessly from a single switch.

Cassidian Communications continues to serve clients ranging from public safety operations to Fortune 1000 corporations to federal agencies. Collectively, the company has more than 40 years of experience deploying 9-1-1 call processing solutions, notification solutions and first responder digital trunked radio networks.

About Cassidian Communications (www.CassidianCommunications.com)
As the largest and most trusted source of mission critical communications solutions, Cassidian Communications, an EADS North America company, is leading the way in standards-based NG9-1-1 call center applications, notification solutions and services and P25 land mobile radio systems. Headquartered in Temecula, California.

About EADS North America (www.eadsnorthamerica.com)
EADS North America is the North American operation of EADS, a global leader in aerospace, defense and related services. As a leader in all sectors of defense and homeland security, EADS North America and its parent company, EADS, contribute over $11 billion to the U.S. economy annually and support more than 200,000 American jobs through its network of suppliers and services. Operating in 17 states, EADS North America offers a broad array of advanced solutions to its customers in the commercial, homeland security, aerospace and defense markets.

Zetron is an industry leader in the application and promulgation of open-standards-based technologies. Zetron Advanced Communications (Acom) systems featuring CSSI-based technologies have been running successfully at customer sites for more than two years and have logged over 500,000 hours of operation. Acom using CSSI-based technologies has also tested successfully with numerous leading manufacturers’ radio infrastructure systems.

Redmond, WA, U.S.A., May 3, 2012 – Zetron, a leading provider of mission-critical communications solutions worldwide, is also an industry leader in the application and promulgation of the TIA Project 25 (P25) Console Subsystem Interface (CSSI). Zetron Advanced Communication (Acom) systems featuring CSSI-based technologies have been operating successfully for over two years and have logged more than 500,000 operational hours.

Customers to whom Zetron has provided Acom systems using CSSI-based technologies include:
• The Royal Canadian Mounted Police, who used the system to manage communications and security at the July 2010 G8 /G20 Summit in Toronto, Canada.
• The Cumberland County 9-1-1/Dispatch Center, Cumberland, TN.
• The Civil Police in São Paulo, Brazil.
• Companhia de Transmissão de Energia Elétrica Paulista (CTEEP), which handles electric power transmission for 30 percent of the electricity produced in Brazil.

Benefits to customers
There are important reasons why Zetron is an ongoing and active supporter of the CSSI. These include:
• Enhanced interoperability: Consoles that use CSSI-based technologies are able to interoperate with a wide variety of radios across agencies and jurisdictions. This is because the CSSI defines a standard interface between the radio dispatch console and the Radio Frequency Subsystem (RFSS).
• Compatibility and choice: Equipment that utilizes the CSSI is inherently compatible, even if it is from different manufacturers. This allows customers to choose equipment from multiple vendors rather than being limited to a single vendor’s proprietary offerings.
• Cost effectiveness: Because the CSSI supports expanded customer choice, it fosters healthy competition and fair pricing among vendors.

Successful CSSI testing
Zetron has tested its Acom system using CSSI-based technologies with numerous leading manufacturers’ radio infrastructure systems. The tests, written according to the TIA CSSI standard, ensure that the equipment will integrate and perform together as the standard requires. Partners in these efforts have included:
• Cassidian
• Tait
• Harris
• Raytheon
• Auria Wireless
• Daniels Electronics
“Zetron is very proud to be a driving force in projects and partnerships that further the use of CSSI-based technologies,” said Zetron president and CEO, Ellen O’Hara. “Customers report that their Acom solutions utilizing the CSSI are indeed delivering the improved interoperability, compatibility, flexibility and choice they require. It’s clear that CSSI-based technologies are living up to their promise.”

About Zetron
For over 30 years, Zetron has been providing mission-critical communications solutions to customers in public safety, transportation, utilities, manufacturing, healthcare and business. With offices in the U.S.A., U.K., Australia and numerous field locations, Zetron supports a worldwide network of resellers, system integrators and distributors. This gives Zetron a global reach as well as a local presence in the regions it serves. Zetron is a wholly owned subsidiary of JVC Kenwood Corporation. For more information, visit www.zetron.com.

pr_050312

Paramus, New Jersey, May 2, 2012 - Ceragon Networks Ltd. (NASDAQ: CRNT), the #1 wireless backhaul specialist, today announced that it has won orders for high-capacity wireless backhaul point-to-point and point-to-multipoint solutions and last mile equipment from the Florida Rural Broadband Alliance (FRBA) . The FRBA chose Ceragon’s FibeAir^® IP-10G and FibeAir 2500 wireless backhaul solutions for its new all-IP network. The deployment, which is funded by federal broadband stimulus funds, is part of a network that will bring high-speed broadband service to un-served and underserved communities in 15 rural counties in Florida, providing much-needed connectivity to subscribers and expanding business opportunities in the area.

The deployment is part of the FRBA’s project to build a new “middle mile” broadband infrastructure, connecting two rural areas of Florida. High-speed broadband access is expected to create jobs, enhance public safety, improve the delivery of healthcare services, enhance emergency services, and promote educational opportunities for the disadvantaged communities located within these rural areas.

“Ceragon’s all-IP solutions carry a variety of voice and data services and also facilitate a cost-efficient network set-up and fast ROI,” said Ira Palti, Ceragon’s President and CEO.  “The combination of Ceragon’s technology and expertise will enable the FRBA to provide high-capacity, broadband services directly to these underserved communities in Florida, helping to stimulate the economy there.”

“We selected Ceragon’s solutions to build our rural network because of their reliable high-capacity performance, the superior quality of their technology, and the company’s experience and expertise,” said Gina Reynolds, CEO of Florida’s Heartland REDI, Inc. and Co-Manager of Florida Rural Broadband Alliance. “Ceragon was able to lower the total cost of ownership of our network, while enabling us to deliver services faster.”

Ceragon Solutions
The FibeAir IP-10G is a next-generation, carrier-grade wireless Ethernet backhaul product that uniquely integrates the latest radio technology with TDM and Ethernet networking.  With up to 2Gbps of IP traffic per channel, the FibeAir IP-10G solution provides superior high-speed broadband access and quality of experience (QoE) for the FRBA’s network and subscribers.

The FibeAir 2500 is a high-capacity Point to Multipoint (P2MP) solution that delivers up to 200Mbps of aggregated traffic, to support voice, data and high-resolution video applications. The solution offers superb performance in harsh conditions, and robust near line of sight (nLoS) and non-line of sight (NLoS) performance capabilities. It supports an extensive range of sub 6GHz frequency bands, and is suitable for small cell deployments.

About The Florida Rural Broadband Alliance, LLC
The Florida Rural Broadband Alliance, LLC is a regional collaboration of local governments, community activists and economic development agencies in South Central Florida (Florida’s Heartland REDI, Inc.) and Northwest Florida (Opportunity Florida).

About Ceragon Networks Ltd.
Ceragon Networks Ltd. (NASDAQ: CRNT) is the #1 wireless backhaul specialist.  We provide innovative, flexible and cost-effective wireless backhaul solutions that enable mobile operators and other wired/wireless service providers to deliver 2G/3G, 4G/LTE and other broadband services to their subscribers.  Ceragon’s high-capacity, solutions use microwave technology to transfer voice and data traffic while maximizing bandwidth efficiency, to deliver more capacity over longer distances under any deployment scenario. Based on our extensive global experience, Ceragon delivers turnkey solutions that support service provider profitability at every stage of the network lifecycle enabling faster time to revenue, cost-effective operation and simple migration to all-IP networks.  As the demand for data pushes the need for ever-increasing capacity, Ceragon is committed to serve the market with unmatched technology and innovation, ensuring effective solutions for the evolving needs of the marketplace. Our solutions are deployed by more than 430 service providers in over 130 countries.

Ceragon Networks® is a registered trademark of Ceragon Networks Ltd. in the United States and other countries. Other names mentioned are owned by their respective holders.