Ending years of communication frustration amongst Colorado’s first responders, M/A-COM Inc. announced that its public-safety portable radios have been deemed Project 25-compatible, meaning that the radios can now be used on the Motorola Inc.-based statewide Digital Trunked Radio system as well as on Denver Police Department’s M/A-COM-based system.
Until now, interoperability was possible among different agencies, but only within each network, not between them.
This lack of interoperability created a problem during the Columbine High School tragedy, when first-responders from all over the metro area came to assist with the situation, but found that they couldn’t communicate with each other. The M/A-COM network covers the city and county of Denver along with several outlying suburban areas, while the Consolidated Communications Network of Colorado operates the Motorola Inc.-based Colorado Statewide Digital Trunked Radio system that covers other suburbs and much of the rest of the state.
“Every time we can create another layer of interoperability, it helps our first responders succeed in their mission,” said Douglas County Sheriff Division Chief and CCNC President Mike Coleman.
Kenwood and E.F. Johnson also make P25-compatible radios, but their share of the Colorado public-safety market pales in comparison with Motorola’s, ever the dominant force in public-safety gear. Nationally, Motorola gear can be found on 29 state systems. But most in the industry agree that choice is a good thing.
“We feel it’s important for public-safety agencies to have choices in the radios that they carry with them,” said John Facella, market director of Public Safety at M/A-COM. Facella also pointed out that interoperability testing for its radios is still under way in Phoenix; Louisville, Ky.; and Michigan, as well as on several military bases.
The West Metro Fire Protection District, a special district serving more than 250,000 residents in Denver’s western suburbs, has already purchased about 180 of M/A-COM’s portable radios, which are handheld devices, as well as about 90 mobile units, which are mounted in emergency vehicles. Division Chief of Communications Mark Kraph said the district is still in the process of rolling out the new radios.
“We’re done everything we can to ensure that out first-responders don’t have a big learning curve,” said Kraph. “But overall, the reaction has been very positive. We want to be able to communicate with our neighbors.”
Which is what Project 25 is all about. Motorola’s Gary Caprioglio, Systems Integration Manager, explained that Project 25 is an open standard for public-safety networks. The standard involves over-the-air and trunking technology as well as data and encryption management.
“We’ve passed the `buzzword’ phase,” Caprioglio said of the state of interoperability.
