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October 22, 2009
E911 Hosted Solutions Podcast: Federal law Prompts E911 Adoption
By Amy Tierney, TMCnet Web Editor
As the number of states that adopt enhanced 911, or “E911,” services increases, the action is prompting organizations to take a hard and much needed look at their E911 solutions.
And many companies are discovering they need to update their equipment to comply with federal legislation.
TMCnet recently spoke with experts from 911 ETC, an Everett, Wash.-based E911 hosted solutions provider, about the growing interest in E911 services and how federal legislation is impacting the decision of companies to implement a solution.
Bill Svien, executive vice president of 911 ETC, explained in a podcast that federal legislation is the driving force for voice communication providers such as Vonage and Comcast to deploy E911 solutions over the IP network. E911 services use location-based technology to pinpoint the exact whereabouts of distressed callers, which often saves time for emergency responders and lives.
“Enterprise clients and organizations are quickly realizing in essence they might need to be doing the exact same thing,” Svien said.
Currently, 16 states have put in place some type of E911 legislation, the most recent being Massachusetts. For example, the Massachusetts law now requires that any new or substantially renovated multi-line telephone system must offer the same level of E911 services provided to people in the state, including enterprise VoIP users.
More states are expected to follow suit as another five states have legislation pending, Svien said.
And companies are taking the laws to heart. Already, government entities and a number of enterprise clients have put an E911 solution in place for their multiple line telephone systems, or MLTS, as a result of the state laws, according to Svien. What’s more, enterprise clients have installed E911 solutions across the entire organization as opposed to deploying it only in the states with the legislation, Svien said.
To listen to the full podcast, visit the E911 Hosted Solutions channel on TMCnet, or click here.
Amy Tierney is a Web editor for TMCnet, covering unified communications, telepresence, IP communications industry trends and mobile technologies. To read more of Amy's articles, please visit her columnist page.
Edited by Amy Tierney
