911 Services

Exalt (News - Alert) Communications, a provider of next-generation microwave backhaul systems, has revealed that its microwave backhaul systems are going to help the public safety agencies of Will County 911 in Illinois to seamlessly dispatch crucial information during 911 calls.

Will County 911 is using Exalt systems to link its new dispatch center, or Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP), in Bolingbrook, Ill., with a regional switching center approximately 13 miles away. The Bolingbrook PSAP is in charge of supporting the community’s emergency police and fire calls. According to a press release, Will County 911 and Bolingbrook PSAP chose Exalt for its systems’ reliability.

In Laraway, Will County, four microwave links have been built over water towers. Through them and traditional communication towers, the Exalt system connects a remote switching center at Laraway and the public safety agency. The links are claimed to have the capability to withstand temperature extremes from below freezing to as high as 120 degrees Fahrenheit.

As configured for the Bolingbrook PSAP, the Exalt 4.9 GHz and 6 GHz microwave backhaul systems carry two T1 lines that transport mission-critical two-way radio traffic for first responders.

Exalt claimed that it offers the industry's broadest portfolio of point-to-point microwave backhaul radio systems. Available in all bands and all configurations, there is an Exalt radio system to meet every public and private network application need from network edge to network core. Its systems are Hybrid Ethernet/TDM capable and feature native Ethernet and native TDM to support 2G/3G to 4G/LTE (News - Alert) and TDM to IP migration.

The Exalt system deployed for Will County 911 utilizes 4.9 GHz public safety frequency band for interference protection and reliability and the 6 GHz frequency band for even higher capacity to support additional simulcast trunking sites for Will County's 800 MHz radio system.

Tom Ross, deputy chief at Bolingbrook Police Departmen,t noted that with 911 voice and data traffic that can involve life-and-death situations, they needed a communications system that they could rely on, no matter what. The Exalt systems have been totally reliable and gave them greater peace of mind and lower costs over time than leased lines.