IP in the 911 Center?

The world of 911 call centers, or PSAPs (Public Safety Answering Point), has traditionally been an analog or TDM-switched environment. As many 911 center managers note, there is simply no room for failure or problems. Typically, these decision-making parties were skeptical towards replacing their aging 911 center switching equipment with an IP-centered telephony core. The times are now changing, as the major telecom vendors are marketing their IP platforms as the center of 911 center communications. Nortel, for example, now markets their CS1000/CS2000, and even BCM platforms as viable replacements for 911 centers. In fact, Nortel openly encourages VoIP-focused 911 centers. “The increasing traffic demands on the communications centers can be met by the Nortel Contact Center solution — a leading next-generation multimedia contact center that transforms the 9-1-1 caller experience by supporting a robust and innovative suite of integrated TDM, IP or SIP-based multimedia applications and services.” http://www.nortel.com/solutions/government/statelocal/collateral/nn113780.pdf Avaya, as well, is promoting its IP-focused media servers as PSAP communication solutions. Not surprisingly, since these two vendors still hold a major share of the PBX market. The question remains, as much as we all love converged telecommunication systems, would you trust your 911 call to an IP switching backbone? Absolutely. It’s certainly a lot stronger and more resilient than the 40-year-old copper running to our homes. The unfounded argument that IP-PBXs aren’t stable enough to support PSAPs is bogus, in my view. Now, when can we expect the first PSAP to go online using Asterisk as a communications platform?