23 Jun 2011

 Utilising Proxim's end-to-end wireless solutions, Quadcom 911 has connected 16 locations
 Quadcom 911 utilises Proxim's wireless public safety  solutions and connects 16 locations
Proxim Wireless Corporation, a leading provider of complete indoor and outdoor wireless broadband ecosystems, today announced that Quadcom 911, a multi-agency public safety dispatch center, has selected a combination of Proxim's wireless backhaul and point-to-multipoint (PtMP) solutions to connect the public safety networks of several municipalities in Suburban Chicago in both Kane and Cook Counties. Utilising Proxim's end-to-end wireless solutions, Quadcom 911 has connected 16 locations, which enables 911 Computer-Aided Dispatch (CAD) for police, fire, and other municipal and public safety agencies across the covered municipalities. The municipalities utilizing Proxim's highly-reliable wireless system are:

  • The Village of Carpentersville (Main 911 Computer-Aided Dispatch Center)
  • The Village of East Dundee
  • The Village of Sleepy Hollow
  • The Village of South Barrington
  • The Village of West Dundee
  • The East Dundee Fire Protection District
  • The Rutland Dundee Fire Protection District

"This network links 16 different locations together, and is responsible for connecting the components in our 911 CAD system -- so needless to say, it is extremely mission criticl," said Dave Smith, Director of Quadcom 911. "After testing multiple vendors' systems, we selected Proxim because their point-to-multipoint and wireless backhaul solutions provided the highest performance and the best value, while enabling us to run a single, end-to-end wireless network that was easy to deploy and centrally manageable."

The design, development, installation and management of CAD systems can be a complicated endeavor for medium or large public safety agencies. These systems involve not only the installation of computers and the CAD software, but a reliable connection to a wide variety of other systems including alarm inputs, mobile data systems, records management systems, CAD systems of other agencies, and the local, county, state and federal network of criminal justice databases. To connect all 16 locations and the multiple components required to run a mission-critical 911 CAD system, Proxim's wireless technology provided the cost-effective, high-performance connectivity required to make the system feasible.

In order to provide high-performance 911 CAD connectivity for public safety agencies throughout the seven municipalities covered by this network, Quadcom 911 selected a combination of Proxim's Tsunami® QB-8100 and Tsunami GX 90 point-topoint wireless backhaul and Tsunami™ MP.11 5054 and 5012 poi-ntot -multipoint solutions. By utilising Proxim's end-to-end wireless solutions, Quadcom 911 was able to reduce leased line costs, which reduces the overall operational costs of the municipalities' networks.

"Not only did the wireless system need to be extremely reliable based on the importance of the 911 CAD systems, but we

"[...] we selected Proxim because their point-to-multipoint and wireless backhaul solutions provided the highest performance and the best value, while enabling us to run a single, end-to-end wireless network that was easy to deploy and centrally manageable"

also needed a system that would help us reduce the number of costly T1 lines in our network," said Mike Spiro, IT Coordinator at the Village of West Dundee. "Proxim's end-to-end wireless platform provided a one-stop shop for all the wireless components we needed. We expect a full Return on Investment (RoI) within 12 months."

In addition to connecting all 16 locations and providing a complete 911 CAD network, Quadcom 911 also wanted to build out a new backup dispatch center. With Proxim's flexible and cost-effective wireless solutions, the deployment time for a backup dispatch center was minimal and Quadcom 911 has also met its goal of providing backup connections for the network covering the municipalities.

"Quadcom 911 and the municipalities involved, had a goal of providing greater public safety services and response times over a high-performance, mission-critical network while reducing the cost of their network infrastructure," said Shaun Cohl, Senior Systems Engineer for Proxim Wireless. "At Proxim, our broad wireless ecosystem is ideally suited for deployments such as these where organizations need a cost-effective wireless system without sacrificing the high-performance required for missioncritical applications such as public safety and video surveillance."