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Cisco IP Interoperability and Collaboration System Connects Multiple Fire Control Centers for Massachusetts Townships
Efficiency of "Push to Talk" Collaboration Between Agencies and Districts Improves FireResponse and Citizen Safety and Security
| Source: Cisco Systems, Inc.
SAN JOSE, CA--(Marketwire - November 28, 2007) - Cisco® (NASDAQ : CSCO ) today announced that
Cisco IP Interoperability and Collaboration System (IPICS) has been
deployed across four Massachusetts Fire Control Centers, connecting radio
systems to allow real-time collaboration between critical fire control
centers, day-to-day or in an emergency. The Control Centers have full
redundancy to ensure communications survivability in the event of a major
incident.
The Massachusetts townships of Ashland, Beverly, Lawrence, and Westford,
comprise four of 15 fire districts in the state. In the past, each district
had only a common mutual aid channel for communication. However, as the
call volume increased, it became apparent that it was critical for these
Control Centers to have "intra"operability and redundancy. They also wanted
to extend communications interoperability beyond just radio. With Cisco
IPICS, the districts have push-to-talk voice interoperability to cellular,
IP telephony, and traditional phones, creating a highly secure and reliable
foundation for communications on a converged, IP network, regardless of the
device being used.
"We felt the Cisco solution was easy to use for multiple operators, job
changes, training new people, but also very efficient. Districts are now
able to speak each other with just a few mouse clicks -- it's a very
elegant solution," says Richard Rochon, fire chief of the town of Westford.
"This has engendered a new level of communications among the communities
regardless of the types of networks and devices the control centers have.
Cisco IPICS has provided us the ability to communicate seamlessly while
using our existing radio and network infrastructure. We can also notify key
participants during these incidents in a variety of ways through paging,
email, and short message service."
"Cisco IPICS' 'Push to Talk' option is helping emergency first responders
everywhere to communicate more efficiently than before," said Mark Weidick,
vice president and general manager of Cisco's safety and security systems
business unit. "With one click of a button, formerly disparate agencies can
now reach out to each other for immediate response to citizen safety."
Cisco worked with ARINC Incorporated, who managed the system integration.
ARINC used its ARINC Wireless Interoperable Network Solutions (AWINS™)
architecture to deploy Cisco IPICS into the four townships' Fire Control
Centers fixed infrastructure networks. ARINC is the Federal Communication
Commission's only non-government licensee and coordinator of radio
communication. For nearly eight decades, ARINC has provided communications,
engineering, and integration to deliver mission-critical solutions to the
commercial, government, and defense industries. ARINC and Cisco also worked
with NetTeks Technology Consultants of Boston, Massachusetts to deliver the
solution.
The Cisco IPICS portfolio of products and applications streamlines daily
operations and helps enable organizations to rapidly respond to incidents
or emergencies. It dissolves communication silos between disparate land
mobile radio systems and devices such as mobile phones, landline phones, IP
phones and PC clients. Users can communicate with whatever device they
have, from wherever they are. Users can be paged or emailed with the status
of an event and can be automatically called and invited to join the virtual
conference, further improving situation awareness and reducing response
time. Cisco IPICS provides flexible and scalable communications
interoperability, enhancing the value of existing and new radio, telephony
and IP communications networks.
For more information about Cisco IPICS, visit: www.cisco.com/go/ipics.
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