WASHINGTON-Reminiscent of what might happen in a real emergency, phones started ringing during a Capitol Hill briefing Thursday. But, rather than a real emergency, it was a demonstration of the National Emergency and Alerting Response Systems as proponents hope to garner support for the $16 million to $17 million they believe is needed to complete it.
“The difficulty is the funding is allocated in lots of different pots. This could be a benefit for bioterrorism reporting, that’s one agency; public warning, that is another agency. The challenge is getting the secretaries for the Office of Management & Budget to say, ‘Gee this is a good idea,'” said David Alyward, founder of the ComCare Alliance. “We believe the overall price tag is $16 million to 17 million.”
The NEARS Initiative uses special protocols to connect existing technologies so when something happens, one message can be sent and received by various people in various agencies on various devices. Several people participating in the Capitol Hill demonstration were using different devices.
In related news, the leadership of the E911 Congressional Caucus and co-sponsors of VoIP E911 sent a letter Wednesday to FCC Chairman Kevin Martin giving the Federal Communications Commission congressional endorsement for recently adopted rules to require Voice over Internet Protocol carriers to provide enhanced 911 services by the end of September.
“The FCC’s rules make it clear that VoIP service providers must supply their customers with an immediate solution for E911 services. Your leadership on this issue since becoming chairman has been outstanding. Few issues are more critical than ensuring that all Americans have full access to 911 emergency services,” reads the letter. “Not only are we pleased that the commission imposed a clear requirement on VoIP providers to provide E911 capability, but the FCC acted appropriately in requiring VoIP providers to notify customers of any limitations with respect to 911 access. The recent tragedies around the nation, which involved VoIP customers who were unaware that their service was not 911 capable, must not be repeated.”
While the letter praises Martin, it does warn that the 120-day deadline may be too short.
“We anticipate that many VoIP providers will not be able to meet the 120-day deadline for fixed services for operational reasons. It will likely take longer than 120 days for the necessary routers and databases to be provisioned. We also anticipate that providers with nomadic services will not be able to meet the E911 deadline because the technology to provide location information for VoIP phones is not yet in place. It is going to take much hard work on the part of all stakeholders to ensure success. But the FCC clearly has taken the right first step with a very clear and thoughtful order,” said the lawmakers.
