Temecula, Calif., April 11, 2011: The Delaware County, Ohio, Office of Emergency Services Communications Center (DELCOMM) has upgraded its existing 9-1-1 equipment with the next generation 9-1-1 (NG9-1-1) Sentinel^® Patriot^®call processing solution from emergency communications leader Cassidian Communications(formerly PlantCML^®), an EADS North America company.

“The consolidation of the Delaware City and County 9-1-1 call centers gave us the opportunity to upgrade our existing equipment to a system that can meet the demands of our growing community,” said Robert Greenlaw, communications director, DELCOMM. “As our population grows and technologies advance, we need to ensure that when we receive an emergency call, we have the right tools in place to protect our citizens. Cassidian Communications has provided that to us.”

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the 459-square-mile Delaware County was the fastest-growing county in Ohio from 2000 to 2009, with a population increase of 53.4 percent.

“Adding an additional switch to our backup facility at the fire center allows emergency calls to be received should anything happen at either our primary facility or the fire center. If our call center gets flooded or damaged, or inundated with calls, our community will still be able to reach us in the case of an emergency as the backup switch is fully operational – there is no single point of system failure,” Greenlaw continued.

Delaware County 9-1-1, now DELCOMM, has been a Cassidian Communications customer since 1996. DELCOMM currently is equipped with 16 call taking positions to field emergency and administrative calls from county residents, as well as to dispatch calls to the area’s law enforcement, fire and EMS agencies.

“As with any consolidation of emergency call centers, the DELCOMM consolidation project will continue to prove its worth to the community as emergency calls are answered and first responders are dispatched in a timely manner without fear of failure,” said Carlos Avila, vice president, sales, Cassidian Communications. “The decision to upgrade their call processing solution to the NG9-1-1 geo-diverse Sentinel Patriot solution will allow the call takers to perform their jobs with more efficiency as they immediately identify the location of the call and dispatch the appropriate first responders to the scene.”

Additionally, with the broad availability of i3 capability, DELCOMM will be able to seamlessly add NG9-1-1 capabilities as they become available and deployed. Cassidian Communications existing work with both the National Emergency Number Association (NENA) NG9-1-1 committees and previous SMS messaging proofs of concepts ensures that this transition for DELCOMM can be accomplished through future software upgrades.

The Sentinel Patriot solution’s IP architecture, designed expressly for NG9-1-1 applications, is based on current and evolving critical communications technologies and standards. This allows for the sophisticated design of backup, disaster recovery, and overflow operations with the assured ability to provide reliable service under unexpected conditions. The geo-diverse deployment model provides maximum system survivability, and the efficient network architecture design minimizes data traffic and bandwidth usage for ongoing cost savings.

Securing the system upgrade is a comprehensive suite of Managed Servicesfrom Cassidian Communications. As part of this package, DELCOMM gains around-the-clock direct and secure connectivity with the Service Management Center, ensuring the integrity and reliability of its solutions. The suite of services includes the Monitoring & Response option, which is a remote monitoring service for each approved onsite device. Coupled with its robust portfolio, Cassidian Communicationscommitment to provide market-leading Managed Services demonstrates the company’s leadership in delivering end-to-end public safety solutions.

Cassidian Communications continues to serve clients ranging from public safety operations to Fortune 1000 corporations to federal agencies. Collectively, the companyhas 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 CASSIDIAN(www.cassidian.com)

Cassidian, an EADS company, is a worldwide leader in global security solutions and systems, providing Lead Systems Integration and value-added products and services to civil and military customers around the globe: air systems (aircraft and unmanned aerial systems), land, naval and joint systems, intelligence and surveillance, cyber security, secure communications, test systems, missiles, services and support solutions. In 2010, Cassidian – with around 28,000 employees – achieved revenues of € 5.9 billion. EADS is a global leader in aerospace, defence and related services. In 2010, the Group – comprising Airbus, Astrium, Cassidian and Eurocopter – generated revenues of € 45.8 billion and employed a workforce of more than 121,000.

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.