E911 technology provider TeleCommunication Systems (TCS) announced on Thursday that it has signed a reseller agreement with Level 3 Communications.

The new agreement calls for TCS to bundle Level 3’s E911 network capabilities, which will enable with TCS' VPC, will provide customers with a one-stop shop for all Enhanced 911 services.

Enhanced 919 calling is comprised of based upon four building blocks: Location Determination, Route Determination, Call Delivery and Automatic Location Information (ALI) Delivery. First, the location of the caller must be determined (Location Determination).

Following this procedure, and based on the caller’s location, the Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) that has the responsibility to dispatch service must be determined (Route Determination). Third, the 9-1-1 call must be delivered to the PSAP (Call Delivery). Finally, the location and call back number of the caller needs to be delivered to the PSAP operator (ALI Delivery).

“Level 3 offers the broadest coverage for E911 call termination,” said Dan Allen, senior vice president, Service Bureau Operations for TCS, in a statement. “Furthermore, many synergies exist within the Level 3 and TCS customer bases such as cable companies, Voice Service Providers and others, and this agreement will enable us to integrate our services to provide our customers with a best-in-class solution. We are enthused to work with Level 3 on delivering these communications solutions to VoIP Service Providers.”

Thanks to the agreement, Level 3 will allow TCS to offer each of these building blocks to VoIP E911 customers and provides Emergency Services Gateway (ESGW) access to selective routers for call delivery to Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs).

The Level 3 ESGW is built on its VoIP E9-1-1 network that was initiated in 2003 serving more than 60 service providers and close to 2 million end-users. Level 3's network is designed for high availability operated through two fully redundant network operations centers.

TCS made news back in April when it was picked my EarthLink as its primary provider for EarthLink's newest VoIP offering, EarthLink DSL and Home Phone Service. VoIP E911 service. The new, multi-year deal calls for Level 3 to provide its VoIP Enhanced Local service to EarthLink. The service bundle offers local voice services with popular features such as caller ID, voicemail and 3-way calling bundled with multiple speeds of DSL Internet access.

The Level 3 VoIP Enhanced Local service supports EarthLink’s local, long distance and international voice traffic, providing voice origination, voice termination, directory listings, and caller ID. The service will allow EarthLink to connect its customers to the public switched telephone network when they make calls to traditional telephones or mobile devices. It also includes Level 3’s E-911 Direct service, which provides nationwide coverage for enhanced 911 service.

TeleCommunication Systems

http://www1.telecomsys.com

Level 3 Communications (News - Alert)

http://www.level3.om

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Johanne Torres is contributing editor for TMCnet and Internet Telephony magazine. To see more articles by Johanne Torres, please visit Johanne Torres' columnist page.