Agito, Rivada team up

Their Interoperable Communications Extension has been selected to help emergency response support for Homeland Security and Homeland Defense missions.

VoIP, unified messaging, products and services

Agito Networks and Rivada Networks announced earlier this week that that their joint communications solution, the Interoperable Communications Extension, has been selected to help emergency response support for homeland security and defense missions. The solution brings together interoperable voice, video and data communications to mobile deployments so that first responders can better communicate at an incident site. The ICE24 kits use Agito's RoamAnywhere Mobility Router to provide VoIP.

The ICE24 kits contain dual-mode (WiFi/Cellular) mobile devices such as the the Palm Treo Pro; WiFi access points for secure wireless communications; and a satellite dish for backhaul connectivity for communications outside the site, according to the companies. This joint solution also leverages Rivada's emergency response network Emergency Communications Partner roaming (ECProam).

When needed, the solution's mobile devices can use unlicensed Wi-Fi or public safety spectrum, and interoperability is provided to other devices such as Land Mobile Radios, Personal Data Assistants, laptops, W-iFi-enabled cellular phones and satellite-enabled phones. The ICE24 solutions operate out of a hosted satellite teleport.

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Agito Networks and Rivada Networks announced earlier this week that that their joint communications solution, the Interoperable Communications Extension, has been selected to help emergency response support for homeland security and defense missions. The solution brings together interoperable voice, video and data communications to mobile deployments so that first responders can better communicate at an incident site. The ICE24 kits use Agito's RoamAnywhere Mobility Router to provide VoIP.

The ICE24 kits contain dual-mode (WiFi/Cellular) mobile devices such as the the Palm Treo Pro; WiFi access points for secure wireless communications; and a satellite dish for backhaul connectivity for communications outside the site, according to the companies. This joint solution also leverages Rivada's emergency response network Emergency Communications Partner roaming (ECProam).

When needed, the solution's mobile devices can use unlicensed Wi-Fi or public safety spectrum, and interoperability is provided to other devices such as Land Mobile Radios, Personal Data Assistants, laptops, W-iFi-enabled cellular phones and satellite-enabled phones. The ICE24 solutions operate out of a hosted satellite teleport.

Commenting on the two companies' efforts, Rob Needham, vice president at Rivada, said Agito was selected in part because "their industry-leading multi-network handover and rugged architecture enable[s] high-quality communications from the most remote environments using satellite communications."

Agito's RoamAnywhere Mobility Router is designed to help organizations mobilize enterprise voice and unified communications applications by fusing Wi-Fi, cellular and UC with location information, to improve accessibility and responsiveness for mobile users.

Rivada is a leading designer, integrator and operator of public safety communications and IT networks for homeland security forces and first responders.

Next time: We'll look back at our predictions for 2009 and see how close we came to reality.

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Steve Taylor is president of Distributed Networking Associates and publisher/editor-in-chief of Webtorials. Larry Hettick is a principal analyst at Current Analysis.