WASHINGTON-One week after the 9/11 Commission gave the federal government an “F” in public-safety interoperability, Wayne County, Mich., said it chose a software solution from Codespear L.L.C. to solve its public-safety interoperability problems.
Codespear said that once installed, its software-only solution enables any device to become part of the network, thus allowing communications between multiple agencies, communities and first responders regardless of communication device, network or frequency.
Wayne County says Codespear’s solution saves money. “While you can’t put a dollar amount on saving lives, the Codespear system is the most comprehensive and cost effective we’ve seen,” said Robert Ficano, Wayne County executive.
The 9/11 attacks were a reminder of a problem that dates back more than 25 years. When a disaster strikes-like a terrorist attack or a hurricane-differing public-safety agencies that use different radios operating on different frequencies cannot communicate with each other.
“It is scandalous that police and firefighters in large cities still cannot communicate reliably in a major crisis,” said Thomas Kean, chairman of the 9/11 Commission.
Codespear believes a software solution is preferable to trying to replace every radio in the country to try to attain interoperability.
“No matter how much money you throw at it or how much time you spend, you are never going to replace all of the radios in the nation,” Gregg Rowland, Codespear vice president of sales and marketing, told RCR Wireless News last week.
The 9/11 Commission said the federal government could raise its failing grade on public-safety interoperable communications to a passing “C” if Congress passes and President Bush signs the Digital TV Transition Act of 2005.
Congress is considering the DTV bill as part of the 2006 budget reconciliation process. The House bill sets the DTV hard date at Dec. 31, 2008, with the auction starting Jan. 7, 2009. The Senate has passed its budget reconciliation bill setting the hard date at April 7, 2009, with the auction starting Jan. 28, 2008.
The two versions have to be reconciled or changed since both chambers must pass identical bills. Public safety is expected to get 24 megahertz as part of the DTV conversion-at least 2 megahertz of which must be devoted to interoperability.
