Emergent Communications

Our Vision of the Next Generation 9-1-1 System

Emergent sees the future emergency communications system as an “internetwork” – a series of secure local, regional and national wire-line and wireless networks providing modern, integrated information capabilities to support local, regional and national needs and interoperability. This Emergency Service Internet Protocol Network (ESInet) will realize the convergence of data, voice, text and video networks based on ubiquitous packet transport and using standard Internet Protocols. Such changes to the emergency response system will position PSAPs as emergency communications hubs, but not restrict access by other interested groups or agents to the same data.

NG 9-1-1 is being designed to include shared infrastructure and services with all emergency agencies. At the heart of this infrastructure is the Public Safety Operations Center (PSOC). The PSOC will reside within the ESInet and contain the Location- to- Service Translation server (LoST), the Emergency Service Routing Proxy (ESRP), a Conference Server for bridging multiple parties such as caller, call taker and dispatcher or responder onto a call, a media server for recording conversations and PSAP Director (PSAPd) for call routing within the PSAP, ACD functions and call logging and call details.

Implementing a shared infrastructure will result in less reliance on individual 9-1-1 centers having to pay for all network aspects of the system at the local level. As such, the traditional model of each PSAP having to pay for all software and hardware costs (and to manage and maintain them locally) plus network costs can be radically changed. The resulting solution is a set of coordinated applications on an IP network that serves multiple governmental functions and locations and seamlessly interfaces voice and electronic data.

Our solution is uniquely positioned to benefit in this ESInet environment because of its SIP based open architecture, ability to handle multiple media types (voice, video, text and data), flexible graphical user interface, and adherence to NENA’s i3 solution for NG 9-1-1.

Click here for NENA i3 Document

Click here for Functional Deployment

The Emergent solution is the only fully NG 9-1-1 system and also one that is consistent with emerging standards. It can provide total end-to-end IP or it can provide open architecture interface to existing PSAP systems. The solution can handle all current forms of communications (Wireline or Wireless) and also simplifies accommodation of future communications technologies (text messaging, video, SMS) and third party services such as Automatic Crash Notification (ACN, OnStar and more), medical alert services and others. The Emergent solution further provides multi directional data and communications sharing with multiple jurisdictions and Emergency Management systems. Ultimately, the Emergent solution is capable of providing full State routing of all emergency services calls and communications along with centralized interface to national and multi State systems. Once implemented, the Emergent NG9-1-1 solution will enable:

  • Quicker and more accurate information delivery to emergency responders;
  • Better and more useful forms of information (data, images, and video);
  • More flexible, secure and robust PSAP operations;
  • Lower public capital expenditures and operating costs for emergency communication services.

Commitment to Next Gen 9-1-1 and Interoperability

Emergent has been actively involved in the NG9-1-1 System since the earliest work done in NENA and the International Engineering task Force (IETF). Prof. Henning Schulzrinne, co-founder and Chief Technical Advisor of Emergent was perhaps one of the first to recognize that 9-1-1 as we know it in North America, would not work as communications networks steadily migrated to Internet protocol (IP). His role in inventing the Sessions Initiation Protocol (SIP), fundamental to real-time communications over IP networks, uniquely positioned him to identify the problem. His work in NENA Technical Forums and IETF created the necessary extensions to SIP that addressed the unique problems created by 9-1-1.

Subsequent to the technical standards work done by Prof. Schulzrinne, his team at Columbia University developed the base software for many components of the NG9-1-1 System used in the Department of Transportation Proof of Concept. This software suite, which includes all NG9-1-1 components necessary to route and answer an emergency call, forms the basis of Emergent’s product portfolio.

Given the leadership role its founders played in the development of standards (IETF and ATIS ESIF) and early prototype systems, Emergent can rightfully claim a meaningful role in the creation of NG9-1-1.

Since then, Emergent has continued to play a central role in the ongoing definition and testing of NG9-1-1 by participating in the initial NG9-1-1 Industry Collaboration Events (NENA ICE I and II) held in 2009 and 2010. Emergent is actively engaged in the planning for future ICE events and will provide leadership for one of the transition elements scenarios envisioned for testing. We are totally committed to the ICE process.

Emergent is also a member of the NENA Next Generation Partner Program (2007-2009), recognized as a key vendor in the US Depart of Transportation Proof of Concept Trials (2006-2008) and has declared its interest to participate in the Next Gen Safety Consortium (2009). The company is also in the planning stages of NG9-1-1 trials in selected states.