[November 2, 2004]

BroadVox Chooses TCS for E911

More companies are uniting to make E911 calls effective when using VoIP-enabled communications. Last month Vonage ( news- alert) and Intrado made a major announcement when both companies completed a statewide E911 VoIP project in Rhode Island. Today, BroadVox, a provider of VoIP telephone services announced it selected TeleCommunication Systems Inc. (TCS), a provider of wireless data technology as its E911 Voice over IP (VoIP) ( define - news - alert - tutorial) provider.

"VoIP is rapidly becoming a primary phone line replacement," stated Jeffery Williams, chief information officer for BroadVox. "Subscribers are already taking their VoIP services with them, when they move, or to their hotel rooms when they travel, or to their favorite coffee shop. We require a service that will evolve with our customers and provide true routing to live personnel for emergency services, and TCS has that service," added Williams.

According to the agreement, BroadVox will be offering its subscribers the TCS' E911 network-based VoIP service which provides routing of 9-1-1 calls to Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs), based on the caller's location.

TCS says that most VoIP Enhanced 911, or “ E911,” ( define - news - alert) services take 24 to 48 hours for initial activation or subscriber updates to the location information of emergency dispatch service for an existing or new VoIP subscriber. However, TCS offers tools that allow for validation of an existing or new user's location information within an hour in most instances.

"BroadVox is interested in a complete, reliable solution for providing E9-1-1 with their comprehensive VoIP service and would not settle for less," said Robert Dawson, senior vice president of Service Bureau Operations for TCS. "E911 VoIP is a natural convergence of TCS' years of proven experience in deploying Internet Protocol solutions and providing wireless E9-1-1 services. We look forward to taking communications technology to the next level in the public safety arena."

BroadVox
www.broadvox.net