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VoIP E911 Update: AT&T Picks IntradoBY JOHANNE TORRES In May, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) ruled that VoIP service providers have to get E911 access up and running by September. The move has caused a scramble among providers of VoIP services and technologies. Out of all VoIP technology providers working on E911 services, Intrado stands out. The 9-1-1 infrastructure company has been partnering with VoIP providers such as Vonage Holdings and USA Datanet to enable the providers to offer E911 access to their subscribers. TMCnet had the opportunity to have an exclusive chat with Marcus Andronici and Gene Palumbo, Intrado's product manager and marketing manager respectively at a few days ago about the company's deployment with AT&T. TMCnet was eager to ask them if their phone lines started ringing off the hook when the FCC announced its ruling earlier this year. The company's reps noted a slight increase in requests when the FCC announcement reached the press. The company also spoke to TMCnet about its deal with AT&T which was to be announced today. AT&T tapped Intrado to deploy the company's V9-1-1 Mobility Service. Andronici and Palumbo explained that the deals will allow AT&T to "seamlessly route their subscribers' 9-1-1 calls into the dedicated wireline E9-1-1 network." Andronici and Palumbo told TMCnet that the service differs from other systems in that it "delivers the following key requirements for VoIP E911: data management (location VoIP positioning service with instructions on how to route the call and the callers address to the right public safety answering point or PSAP, a series of 'meet me' points to facilitate 9-1-1 network access and local 9-1-1 selective router connectivity to deliver the call 'natively." I asked the Intrado reps how fast the service delivers caller info to the right contingency responder after dialing the three digits. They compared the speed to that of land line calls. According to Intrado, the deployment of Intrado V9-1-1SM Mobility Service will support AT&Ts nomadic users, those users with telephone numbers foreign to the local rate center (out-of-area), and some fixed location users not covered by AT&T and Vonage's own service footprint. "This will help AT&T meet new FCC guidelines that require VoIP providers to offer E9-1-1 services that deliver the callers name, call back number and street address to the appropriate 9-1-1 call center in the event that 9-1-1 call is placed. This new agreement builds on an existing relationship between the two companies," noted the company's news announcement released today. "We began deploying E9-1-1 capabilities to our AT&T CallVantage users in April and have successfully migrated the majority of our user base to it," said Cathy Martine, AT&T senior vice president for Internet Telephony. We appreciate Intrados willingness to help us expand our capabilities to that segment of our community that we are not able to reach." Stay tuned for more news about VoIP E911 deployments as we all count down the days to the FCC mandatory deadline this September. ----- 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 |