Minneapolis / St. Paul Metro Area PSAPs Select Airbus DS Communications' VESTA(R) 9-1-1

TEMECULA, CA--(Marketwired - Aug 17, 2015) - Twelve Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs) within the nine-county Minneapolis / St. Paul metropolitan area regional 9-1-1 system that is supported by the Metropolitan Emergency Services Board have selected Airbus DS Communications, an entity of Airbus Defense and Space, to upgrade their technology to the latest VESTA^® 9-1-1 solution.

Allina EMS, Carver County, Dakota County, City of Edina, Hennepin County, Hennepin County EMS, City of Minneapolis, Ramsey County, Ridgeview EMS and Scott County are among the PSAPs taking the first steps to build a reliable, regional Next Generation 9-1-1 system to better serve their residents.

The metro area PSAPs selected the VESTA 9-1-1 solution because of the flexibility it provides each PSAP to customize the system to their needs as well as leverage Airbus DS Communications' proven track record of supporting PSAPs' migration to Next Generation 9-1-1. With the new VESTA 9-1-1 solution in place, five PSAPs operate stand-alone systems and the remaining seven are forming two regional systems that share resources and backroom equipment.

"As communities grow and interconnect, public safety officials are emboldening PSAPs to form regional solutions to ensure that responders can answer calls for help efficiently, regardless of political boundaries," said Mike Pavick, Vice President of Sales at Airbus DS Communications. "We are excited to provide these metro area PSAPs with our VESTA 9-1-1 solution that offers them the customized and advanced features they need."

The 12 PSAPs adopting the VESTA 9-1-1 solution vary in size from three to 33 call taking positions -- totaling 201 -- and answer more than two million calls each year. This made the VESTA 9-1-1 solution's scalability a critical feature for the PSAPs to ensure they could implement a regional network today that could expand as needed over time.

"Prior to implementing the VESTA 9-1-1 solution, the PSAPs were working independently but now they are well positioned to meet Next Generation 9-1-1's evolving standards and the challenges of a rapidly changing industry," said Brian Kyllonen of PSC Alliance, a telecommunications consulting firm that supported the project. "With the new solution, each PSAP has a reliable back-up solution within neighboring communities and diverse network options to route emergency calls and interagency, 10-digit number calls."

By having PSAPs on the same software, dispatchers are trained on the same equipment, making the MESB regional 9-1-1 system better able to handle severe and large-scale emergencies.

"Every 9-1-1 center does business a little differently and, with the VESTA system's flexibility, each of us can make the system our own. There is no limitation," said Diane Lind, Executive Director for the Dakota Communications Center in Rosemount.

"I'm reluctant about change at work and it was no different with the new phone system -- until we had our training. My co-workers and I love how user friendly it is along with the numerous options for customization," said Katie Danielson, 9-1-1 Dispatcher for the Edina Police Department.

All 12 sites have access to Airbus DS Communications' VESTA™ Analytics software solution, giving MESB and the individual PSAPs insight into the region's call handling performance, call delivery reliability and other key metrics of performance and management.

Airbus Defense and Space
Airbus Defense and Space is a division of Airbus Group formed by combining the business activities of Cassidian, Astrium and Airbus Military. The new division is Europe's number one defense and space enterprise, the second largest space business worldwide and among the top ten global defense enterprises. It employs more than 38,000 employees generating revenues of approximately EUR 13 billion per year.

Airbus DS Communications, an Airbus Defense and Space Holdings, Inc. company, is a global leader and trusted source for mission-critical communications technologies. The VESTA^® product suite provides Next Generation 9-1-1 call processing systems, land mobile radio solutions and emergency notification applications, creating smarter ways to keep all our communities safe.