|
VoIP E911 Update: HBF Adds i-911 Safety Response Centers
BY JOHANNE TORRES
TMCnet VoIP Minute Watch Columnist
The industry-wide race to get VoIP E911 ready is running tighter than ever these days as we move closer to the recently extended deadline set by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for service providers to get the access up and running. Industry players must have VoIP E911 working effectively before the end of November. In comes HBF Group Inc. of Austin, Texas, not staying behind in the effort. The E911 technology provider recently announced it already deployed new i-911 Safety Response Centers through seven VoIP service providers to handle VoIP emergency calls.
The company's i-911 VoIP system currently routes 9-1-1 calls directly to the i-911 Safety Response Centers where they are answered by a live operator. The operator then verifies the caller's location and routes the call to the correct Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) while staying on the phone with the caller to confirm that help is received.
HBF opened i-911 Safety Response Centers throughout Canada and the U.S. The centers are staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week and support multiple languages. Service providers who sign up for HBF's services can choose to have 9-1-1 calls from subscribers go directly to a live Safety Response Center operator. The company noted the importance of this feature in its news release: "this is particularly important for nomadic users who change the location of their VoIP device, but may not have updated their current location information. It is also a benefit for subscribers who have not opted-in for 9-1-1 service since they can be routed directly to the i-911 Safety Response Center."
"IP Telephony has had its share of problems concerning emergency calls. It's a new technology that is moving fast and having to integrate with a traditional wireline technology that has been evolving for many years," said Hank Johnson, HBF's president. "Our goal at HBF is to provide the safest, most accurate 9-1-1 services possible.
According to HBF's news announcement, the company's i-911 Safety Response Centers "meet the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) mandate for VoIP Providers and are a supplement to the United States offering as a step towards the FCC's order for Enhanced 9-1-1."
"The FCC's order for E-911 will benefit everyone. However, while traditional industry carriers are moving forward with allowing access to their 9-1-1 infrastructure by non-traditional carriers, there needs to be a better solution for consumers," said Jim Shepard, executive vice president of HBF. Our i-911 Safety Response Center complements our solution by having someone answer that emergency call, verify the subscriber information from our database and forward the call on to the proper PSAP.
HBF made the news back in June when the company tapped BaseVoice for its Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) Stack in order to integrate the technology into HBF's IP-based 911 service infrastructure. According to HBF's news release, the company chose BaseStack because it "adheres to the JAIN SIP API specification version 1.1 and seamlessly and easily integrated into their application displacing an existing solution."
"HBF Group is a leader in the emerging 911 services space, and has secured an admirable client base. They are committed to quality and responsive service. Their decision to include the BaseStack into their infrastructure demonstrates BaseVoice's ability to fulfill the high standards of such a demanding deployment environment," said Craig Haddow, president BaseVoice, LLC at the time of the announcement.
HBF is currently working with many carriers in the U.S. and Canada including Sprint, Verizon, MTS, Aliant, Vonage Canada, WhistlerTel, babyTEL, Broadvox, tufone, PointOne and VoIP, Inc.
There has been a significant response from VoIP technology providers regarding the FCC VoIP E911 order. Stay tuned for many more announcements to come in the next few weeks!
HBF
http://www.hbfgroup.com
-----
Johanne Torres is contributing editor for TMCnet. To see more articles by Johanne Torres, please visit:
http://www.tmcnet.com/tmcnet/columnists/columnist.aspx?id=100006&nm=Johanne%
20Torres
[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
|
TMCnet LOGIN
Webinars
