According to a recent announcement from Airbus DS Communications (ADSC), its VESTA 4 911 system has been certified by the Joint Interoperability Test Command (JITC) a testing agency of the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD). The certification clears the way for VESTA 4 to be installed at military bases.

ADSC is part of Airbus’ Group’s Defense and Space division develops various communications solutions including 911 and mobile radio. Mapping calls, text-to-911, and analytics that track performance are some of the different VESTA products.

ADSC also offers managed services for customers with VESTA installations. These include system monitoring and response, malware detection and removal, installing security patches and disaster recovery.

To install a new 911 system at a military base is no small task. A larger base like Camp Pendleton, 40 miles north of San Diego, is a great example of the communications issues a large scale military base must deal with.

In many ways, Camp Pendleton functions no differently than a small city would. It has some of the same retail, fast food, restaurants and gas stations that you find in many cities and even has bus service.

It also has its own police, fire and EMS services, separate from those provided by civilian governments in the area. The base, which covers roughly the same area as the U.S. state of Rhode Island, also has several public schools and 7,000 housing units.

From a technology standpoint, a typical base can also have different legacy PBX (News - Alert) systems and numerous computer networks. A 911 system that is reliable must be able to integrate with all these different systems. It must be able to respond to a medical emergency at a housing unit just like it would a fire at a restaurant, an injury at a training facility or a car accident on one of the roads.

It’s no wonder that to achieve JITC certification, VESTA 4 had to go through five weeks of rigorous testing. It would be trite to call it ‘battle-tested’ but VESTA 4 should be well-suited for most if not all civilian 911 systems.