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Outsourced communication solutions provider, West Corporation, along with IPC Systems (News - Alert), today announced they have inked a new deal that will allow West to acquire IPC’s Command Systems segment  (Positron Public Safety Systems (PPSS)) and integrate it with West's Intrado (News - Alert) operations.

 

Both companies hope that this agreement will enable them to offer fully-integrated 9-1-1 solutions for public safety.

 

Pending regulatory approval, the acquisition is planned to close in the fourth quarter, and will be funded with cash on hand. The total cost before transaction expenses is close to $167 million. West states it will not update its 2008 guidance as a result of this new transaction.

 

Montreal, Quebec-based PPSS provides fully-integrated, premise-based public safety solutions that enable Enhanced 9-1-1 call handling, computer-aided dispatching, mapping, automated vehicle location and radio communications capabilities to allow public safety companies to better manage responses in emergency situations. Based in For over 20 years, PPSS has been providing public safety solutions with deployments in over 3,000 public safety answering points (PSAPs) worldwide.

 

PPSS is a good choice for West, as the company has previously sold more than 2,000 positions of its Voice-Over-IP Emergency Response (VIPER) call handling platform.

 

Intrado supplies 9-1-1 systems and services to all major communications carriers, supporting over 2 billion 9-1-1 calls to date. The company is engaged with carriers and public safety to deliver advanced 9-1-1 services. Intrado's next-generation, IP-based emergency communications architecture, the Intrado Intelligent Emergency Network, is deployed in support of public safety agencies throughout the U.S.

 

Today, services and products needed to deliver 9-1-1 are spread across multiple entities, making it a challenge for public safety agencies to effectively provide life saving applications to citizens. By joining forces, Intrado and PPSS can build upon their expertise in network and premise-based solutions to provide critical new services like 9-1-1 text messaging, which will enable people in emergency situations to send text messages to PSAPs.

 

"For many years the PPSS and Intrado teams have worked independently to shape the evolution of 9-1-1. I look forward to working collaboratively with the talented employees of both companies to provide seamless delivery of complete end-to-end emergency communications and response solutions from the network to the desktop," stated George Heinrichs, Intrado president.

 

Darrin Reilly, the president of PPSS, is very excited about becoming a part of Intrado.

 

“We both are fully committed to improving the quality of emergency response. By working as a unified team, we can provide the public safety community with enhanced services and critical information about a 9-1-1 call that will save more lives,” said Reilly.  

 

Intrado, a subsidiary of West Corporation, has been helping define, build and maintain the nation's complex emergency communications infrastructure for over 30 years. Today Intrado provides the core of the nation's 9-1-1 system, supporting over 240 million calls to 9-1-1 each year.

 

Founded in 1986 and based in Omaha, Nebraska, West Corporation is an innovative provider of outsourced communication solutions to many of the world's largest companies, organizations and government agencies. West helps enhance communications in the workplace, maximizes the value of customer relationships and drives greater profitability from every interaction. The company's integrated suite of customized solutions includes conferencing, emergency communications, automated notifications, automated voice services, customer acquisition, customer care and accounts receivable management services.