Alianza Adds Features for Kari's Law and Ray Baum Act Compliance

As enterprises and organizations increasingly embrace digital and cloud transformation, E911 (emergency 911 dialing) compliance is growing in importance and is evolving with technology adoption trends, making it more challenging for service providers to stay up to date.

On January 6, 2022, two new laws went into effect that address the requirements telecom companies must adhere to for emergency communications. The first, Kari's Law, was named after Kari Hunt, a woman who was attacked and killed by her estranged husband in a Marshall, Texas hotel room. Her nine-year-old daughter attempted to call 911 but could not get through because she was unaware callers needed to dial “9” first to get an outside line. The law mandates a "9" is no longer needed for 911 calls from multi-line systems such as hotel phones.

The other piece of legislation, Ray Baum’s Act, mandates that multi-line systems are able to identify the “dispatchable location” of a caller regardless of whether a business uses fixed MLTS, such as an on-premises PBX, or non-fixed MLTS, such as Zoom Phone, as well as for off-premises 911 calls by users who are not located at a business office. The act is named for Oregon legislator Ray Baum due to his significant work in telecommunications.

To help customer stay current with the new legislation, Alianza Inc. has announced new developments for its cloud communications platform designed to help US-based service providers comply with Kari's Law and Ray Baum’s Act. The new enhancements introduced include the capability of Alianza's Cymbus desktop and mobile softphone applications to leverage location services to dynamically route emergency calls to the nearest public safety answering point (PSAP).

The enhancements enable the sending of the caller's dispatchable location to the nearest PSAP for all 911 calls, no matter what device they are dialing from. They also enable any user to place a 911 call directly, without having to dial a prefix such as a "9" to get an outside line.

"Of all of the communications services that a service provider offers, those related to the health and safety of their end customers are most critical," said Justin Cooper, EVP of Product and Customer Success for Alianza, in a statement. "The new enhancements to our cloud communications platform will ensure that our service provider customers can more easily get into and stay in compliance with important new federal E911 regulations. We are proud of the work our development team is doing in this area, which is becoming even more crucial as enterprises and organizations continue their digital and cloud transformations."

Edited by Luke Bellos