The moment an emergency call is made, an all-encompassing first response kicks into gear. Time is critical, and there can be no mistakes. First responders depend on a robust 9-1-1 communication infrastructure that is reliable, secure, and can handle high-pressure situations at a high volume or in case of a disaster.
Budge Currier is the 9-1-1 Communications Branch Manager for the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Service (Cal OES). He says, “In California, the current 9-1-1 system has a high failure rate. Every month somewhere in California for 10 – 20,000 minutes, 9-1-1 is unavailable. That’s simply unacceptable in today’s environment.”
Downtime—or any compromised connectivity—is not an option. Helping local governments stay up to date with the latest and best available technology allows public safety agencies like Cal OES to better support dispatchers’ emergency responders and ultimately save lives.
Bringing 9-1-1 communications into the future with Dejero
Most 9-1-1 systems were built to use analog rather than digital technologies. Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs) across the country need to be upgraded to a digital or IP-based 9-1-1 system, commonly referred to as Next Generation 9-1-1 (NG9-1-1).
In Cal OES’ effort to modernize and strengthen their system, they needed a solution that:
- Increased the system’s resilience to withstand natural and human-caused disasters
- Ensured it quickly and accurately delivered emergency calls in three seconds or less
- Reduced 9-1-1 system outages and downtime
- Easily integrated with existing IT infrastructure
To equip PSAPs with reliable connectivity, they deployed over 200 Dejero GateWay M6E6F network aggregation devices on sites across California in 2021. These devices are easily integrated with existing facility IT infrastructure and connect with the Dejero GateWay Service to route data to its destination. The result is the delivery of resilient backup connectivity, which provides Cal OES with the peace of mind that it will never go offline.
Featuring Smart Blending Technology, which combines diverse connectivity paths, including cellular, satellite, and broadband, it creates a virtual ‘network of networks,’ intelligently managing all these connections in real-time. Dejero provides resilient, uninterrupted connectivity that’s essential for the critical communications of the Cal OES PSAPs.
This technology is combined with Dejero Connectivity Service, providing Cal OES with the convenience of centralized management of cellular service providers and data plans—greatly simplifying provisioning, billing, management and support. In addition to public networks, Dejero provides access to FirstNet®, a nationwide wireless broadband network for first responder and public safety agencies, and an essential requirement for Cal OES.
By implementing Dejero technology into their PSAPs, Cal OES accelerated the transition to their Next Generation 9-1-1 system. With resilient connectivity for their critical communications established, they have peace of mind that PSAP operations will continue to operate without interruption, even if primary and secondary connectivity paths are disrupted.
Learn more about our resilient wireless connectivity for critical communications for the Public Safety industry, or reach out to one of our Solutions Experts.