Sevier County, Tennessee is poised to join the myriad of cities, counties and states around the country to embrace E911, also known as Next Generation 911.

The emergency technology was discussed in detail at last week's Sevier County Emergency Communications District Board meeting, where E911 coordinator Vince Loveday walked committee members through the unique benefits of E911 in today's digital world, according to the Seymour Herald.

As with other locales around the nation, Sevier County is considering implementing an E911 system to ensure the safety of residents that use cellular or IP-based phones. E911 solutions enable emergency personnel to identify the phone number and location of a caller who isn't dialing from a wireline phone – something police, fire departments and other first responders can't do with traditional technologies.

In addition, E911 solutions allow residents to send texts, picture messages and videos to emergency personnel via their cell phone or a Web connection. This will enable residents to contact police when they are unable to talk as well as provide a bridge to those that don't speak English as their first language.

"With the new system if somebody broke in, the victim could send a text if they didn’t want the intruder to know they were there," Loveday told the paper.

The future of E911 in Sevier County looks promising. States like Tennessee are allocating funds to local E911 initiatives seemingly every day. Loveday says that Tennessee has already contributed $138,000 to the project, which means the E911 system will be "largely, if not fully funded by the State."

As of last week, Sevier County had yet to choose a technology partner or approve a preliminary budget for the project.

The news comes just weeks after Stewart County, also located Tennessee, made the decision to upgrade its own E911 equipment, according to a TMCnet report. County officials are still working through details of the project and have yet to settle on its equipment provider of choice. AT&T (News - Alert), GeoConnex and Greer Communications are thought to be in the running.