E911 hosted solutions used to be fairly straightforward for organizations needing to provide accurate location information for any outgoing 911 calls placed from behind their multi-line telephone systems. Today a myriad of factors must be taken into consideration including IP, SIP routing, remote workers, wireless and soft phones. When assembling an RFP for your organization’s E911 needs, all of these pieces should be addressed. Following is a list of questions to include, along with answers provided by 911 ETC:

Is equipment required to implement E911? No, in most cases E911 hosted solutions that fully meet state mandates can be implemented with no equipment required on-site. 911 ETC has been providing fully hosted E911 service since 1997.

Can you route calls via SIP? Yes, 911 ETC requires SIP delivery of calls that use a Voice Positioning Server (VPC) solution. This allows for multiple paths to the VPC and eliminates charges due to misdialed calls to the PRI delivery number.

How do we ensure that proper 911 information is delivered to the correct PSAP from our soft phones or remote Agents? 911 ETC has developed a product called SoftLoc that prompts a soft phone user to update his location information every time they move their phone. The application can recognize the phone has moved by the IP address it is connected to. The administrator of your organization has the ability to shut down the soft phone if the location is not populated. For remote Agents, the organization needs to provision the location and phone number of the remote agent in a Web-based GUI. When the call is placed from an Agent’s home, the PBX (News - Alert) recognizes that the call is not within the network and will route it to the 911 ETC Voice Positioning Server where it will be routed to the appropriate PSAP or 911 operator nearest to their home. The call is routed based on the ANI presented to the VPC.

In a flattened and consolidated environment, can you route calls from a core switch to anywhere in the United States?  Yes, the VPC solution allows 911 ETC to route 911 calls from a core switch back to anywhere in the United States and most of Canada. One of 911 ETC’s largest customers has a core switch in Cupertino, Calif., and one in Austin, Texas. All 911 traffic in the various states they have a presence are routed to the 911 ETC VPC and then based on the ANI, it is delivered back to the PSAP nearest to where the call originated.

Do we need an appliance to do discovery for our IP phones? No, in a lot of cases an organization can assign an ELIN (phone number) to a network region or subnet. If a user logs in or plugs into that subnet, the PBX will recognize the subnet they are located in and out pulse the ELIN for the area that person is sitting in. Many of 911 ETC’s largest enterprise customers have set up the ELIN’s for their network and no longer have to manage anything to do with their IP phones regarding E911 and on top of that, do not have another piece of equipment to maintain.

How do you track wireless phones? Wireless phones are handled much like IP phones in that we assign an ELIN to a Wireless Access Point (News - Alert) (WAP). The current problem that wireless devices present for E911 is that of granularity, as a caller could be on a floor above or below the actual WAP.

Who is in charge of error correction or routing issues?  If you buy a server-based solution, it is the customer’s responsibility to correct any errors or troubleshoot with the Telco in the event of 911 database errors or routing issues. 911 ETC’s solutions do include the ongoing management of error reconciliation and assistance with routing issues.

Please describe how your organization will assist our company in establishing required relationships with PS/ALI providers? 911 ETC has contacts with all of the 911 groups at all of the ILEC’s and is a partner of Intrado (News - Alert) . Intrado hosts the 911 database (PS/ALI) for all carriers except for Verizon. 911 ETC is uniquely positioned with its relationship with Intrado and the LEC’s to provide a comprehensive E911 implementation from start to finish.

Please describe the impact to your solution, and action required by us, if we upgrade to a new PBX hardware/software version or release. In some cases, owners of a server-based E911 solution have to upgrade the E911 server when going to a new release on their switch and it is generally 30 percent of the original cost of the solution. 911 ETC does not charge the customer if they upgrade or even replace their PBX.

For more information on E911 service provided by 911 ETC please visit www.911etc.com.