Northrop Grumman signs emergency communications deal with NYC
Agreement will provide radio interoperability alongside data transmission capabilities; emergency responders will have access to anti-terrorism databases, fingerprints, mug shots, city maps, and streaming video; subways and urban canyons presented major technical challeges
Nowadays, when large metropolitan areas go looking for emergency interoperability systems, they want more than just integrated radio communications. High on their lists are broadband features that allow for seamless data transmision as well. We reported last week about CoCo Communications and its efforts at Dallas Love Field to pull together state, federal, and private industry on a single network. One of CoCo’s leading features was the integration of personal digital assistant (PDA) devices that permitted commnaders to watch video footage in real time.
Now Northrop Grumman, using a different set of technologies, hopes to bring something similar to New York City. The company has received a five-year, $500 million contract to bring interoperability to the city’s myriad of safety agencies and provide first responders high-speed access to federal and state anti-crime and anti-terrorism databases, fingerprints, mug shots, city maps, and streaming video. The system, which will rely on Universal Mobile Telecommunications System technology from San Bruno, California-based IPWireless, will also let officials control streetlights, pass architectural plans to inspectors, and read water and power meters.
-read more in Ethan Butterfield’s Washington Technologyreport
