NENA NEWS
NENA and the National 9-1-1 Education Coalition call upon 9-1-1 professionals, the public, and elected officials to recognize and promote the message Be 9-1-1 Ready for the month of April 2013.
The Coalition website, www.know911.org, provides extensive tools and resources to enhance 9-1-1 public education. A public relations toolkit and other materials to support the Be 9-1-1 Ready campaign are available currently on www.know911.org. The website is updated frequently with content from 9-1-1 educators, local communities, and the Coalition. Sample messages include:
- Know Where You Are: Where are you right now? Could you tell 9-1-1 exactly where to find you?
- Call If You Can, Text if You Can't: Your local 9-1-1 center may soon be able to accept SMS text messages provided by your wireless service provider. Continue to call 9-1-1 until you know your 9-1-1 center can accept text messages.
- Stay Calm & Ready to Listen: 9-1-1 is here to help you through until help arrives. Be ready to listen and follow directions.
 See the future of public safety first hand at NENA 2013! The NENA 2013 Expo Hall is home to interactive exhibits and live demonstrations showcasing next-generation technologies and services. This is THE can't miss experience to see, hear, and feel the latest in public safety goods and services, and gain the knowledge necessary to make well-informed buying decisions.
The Expo Hall provides critical connections between buyers and sellers,allowing you to learn about new solutions and helping exhibitors to better understand your needs. Also, the Expo Hall provides the perfect opportunity to network with your peers to learn how they are addressing similar challenges.
Click here for a list of current exhibitors and to learn more about the Expo Hall.
NENA 2013 is the must-attend event of the year for today's emergency communications professional. Don't miss your chance to be a part of it!
NENA and URISA are pleased to announce the newly re-engineered Locating the Future Conference (formerly known as the URISA/NENA Addressing Conference). The conference will take place at the historic Union Station in St. Louis, Missouri, from November 3-6, 2013.
With the new theme comes an invigorated slate of topics relating to location, addressing, public safety, emergency management, and 9-1-1. The world is changing at a rapid pace and technologies related to location are more and more common. How do location and addressing adapt?
Call for Presentations
Consider participating as a speaker to showcase innovation, case studies, and best practices. There is a format to fit your speaking style, from a formal presentation and panel discussion to a complete interactive session or IGNITE talk.
Curious about how to get the most out of your membership? Check out the new 2013 NENA Membership Guide! It's full of information about the myriad benefits and resources available to you as a NENA member (We've got a lot to offer!). In addition to the virtual edition, keep your eyes peeled for the print version, which should be arriving in your mailbox shortly. Contact us if you would like additional copies to distribute as part of our 2013 recruitment efforts!
We are excited to announce the launch of a new rewards program - available exclusively to you as a member of NENA! To join, log in to nena.org and click on the Member Rewards link from your member profile menu.
Designed to provide exclusive money-saving offers to our members, the new Member Rewards program gives you immediate access to THOUSANDS of discounts from a wide variety of exciting companies like AMC Theatres, Sprint, Walt Disney World, Red Lobster, 1-800-Flowers, Macy's and many more. There is an annual fee of $19.95* to join.
Join now, browse great deals, and start saving today! PLUS, a small portion of the proceeds will go to support NENA initiatives and help keep your membership dues low. Thank you for your support... and happy savings.
NENA's Center Manager Certification Program (CMCP) is designed to equip recently hired, newly promoted, and aspiring PSAP and 9-1-1 Authority managers and supervisors with the tools needed to effectively manage their agency through a rigorous 40-hour course of lecture and lab-based education. For more seasoned 9-1-1 professionals, the CMCP may serve to fill in some of the gaps and strengthen core competencies required in emergency communications center management.
The CMCP, unlike many other upper-level emergency communications training programs, utilizes a real-world, hands-on approach that is focused on topics encountered daily by managerial and supervisory level personnel: Business Writing, Financial Management, Human Resources, Legal Issues, and Communications Skills. With a curriculum built by current and former 9-1-1 center managers with decades of combined supervisory and training experience, the program will provide you with knowledge and skills that can immediately and drastically improve your on-the-job effectiveness and enhance your agency's everyday operations.
Register for upcoming CMCPs:
Registration coming soon for:
- 12.09-13 in Gainesville, FL
Make sure the addresses (email and postal) that we have on file for you are current! Please log in to your online member account to verify or update your information, or send an email to Bri Robinson.
OPS UPDATE
Information continues to be received from multiple jurisdictions indicating the existence of ongoing attacks targeting the telephone systems of public sector entities. More than 200 such attacks have been identified to date. The perpetrators of the attack launched numerous phone calls against the target telephone network, tying up the system and preventing the agency from receiving legitimate calls. This type of attack is referred to as a TDoS or Telephony Denial of Service Attack.
As a result of a cooperative effort between Federal Authorities, public safety representatives, and commercial service providers, a checklist has been developed to provide you with information that will assist in the development of a continuity of operations plan for your agency.
Click here to download a PDF copy of the checklist.
PSAPS wanting to become a 9-1-1 Call Center Partner with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) must begin the process by having the PSAP Director attend the CEO course offered by NCMEC. There are now more than 100 9-1-1 Call Center Partners, with more being added each month.
NENA is pleased to announce that the two-day NCMEC CEO course will be held Saturday, June 15 and Sunday, June 16 at the Charlotte Convention Center. There is no registration fee. CEO course attendees are encouraged to attend NENA 2013 as well.
TECH UPDATE
Due to the number of comments previously received and the quantity of edits and clarification that have been made to this document, NENA Standard for NG9-1-1 Policy Routing Rules, NENA-STA-xxx (DRAFT) has been posted to the NENA collaboration website and is available for a second 15 Business Day Public Review and Comment starting April 1, 2013, and ending on April 19, 2013, at 5PM ET.
All comments shall be submitted by going here and then selecting "add a comment" just above the title "Document Details." Please complete all requested data and "Save" OR if submitting multiple comments, select "Save and Add Another."
Executive Overview
An important feature of NG9-1-1 is the ability of the system to adapt to outages, excessive call volumes, emergencies and normal scheduled PSAP outages. The Policy Routing Function (PRF) described in 08-003 is the function that handles the diversion of calls. To support the PRF, Policy Routing Rules (PRRs) must be developed. These PRRs define to where calls are diverted if the target PSAP is unreachable. This Working Group’s charter was to define a template to guide the development of these PRRs. To that end, the committee developed templates to facilitate the PRRs that a 9-1-1 Authority must develop for any new NG9-1-1 System. The minimum set of rules developed must address all call diversion capabilities present in the current E911 system. A 9-1-1 Authority may choose to implement additional and/or enhanced PRRs to divert calls in a manner that takes advantage of capabilities available in a NG9-1-1 system that are not available in E9-1-1 systems.
The template developed is intended to facilitate a discussion between a 9-1-1 Authority and its Emergency Service Routing Proxy (ESRP) vendor. By utilizing the template, PRRs can be described in a way that is understandable by the 9-1-1 Authority and specific enough to be implemented by the vendor.
Without the creation of PRRs, a NG9-1-1 system will not be able to divert calls to an alternative PSAP when the target PSAP is unavailable. Implementation of the PRRs is a necessary step in the deployment of a NG9-1-1 system.
In NG9-1-1, all call media must be recorded, including voice, video, and text. In addition, all elements involved in call processing log event records for each step in the process. The NENA i3 Solution defines standard interfaces for recording and retrieving all of these data in order to provide historical records for operational, training, and legal purposes, and for analyzing and troubleshooting NG9-1-1 processes. The ICE 8 event, being planned for the fall of 2013, will allow vendors of all NG9-1-1 call processing elements to test logging, recording, and retrieval interfaces while processing calls from origination to termination with different media types.
An ICE 8 Planning Committee has been formed, and vendors of all NG9-1-1 equipment and systems are encouraged to join the more than 25 vendors who are already participating. ICE 8 will provide a unique opportunity for all NG9-1-1 vendors to process multimedia calls end-to-end while their events and media are being logged and recorded. This event will provide the most comprehensive NG9-1-1 test opportunity yet.
ICE 8 requires broad participation from vendors of all types of NG9-1-1 equipment. Recording and logging in the NG9-1-1 setting requires active participation from all call processing equipment. Vendors of call processing equipment need to demonstrate interoperability just as much as do vendors of recording and logging equipment, in order to maximize market opportunities. This event will go far beyond the logging and recording that were done at previous ICE events, and thus represents a major step forward for NG9-1-1 vendors.
GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS UPDATE
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski announced today that he will be stepping down from his post in the coming weeks. Nominated by President Obama and confirmed by the Senate in 2009, Genachowski has led the FCC during a time of rapid growth and transformative change in the Technology, Media & Telecommunications sector, particularly around broadband - high-speed Internet.
"Since his appointment, Chairman Genachowski has demonstrated an exceptional commitment to improving 9-1-1 service for all Americans," said NENA CEO Brian Fontes. "NENA thanks the Chairman for his strong leadership on initiatives designed to improve today’s E9-1-1 system, such as the derecho and text-to-9-1-1 proceedings, while simultaneously working to facilitate the advent of tomorrow's broadband-powered Next Generation 9-1-1 networks through initiatives such as the Communications Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council. We wish him well in his future endeavors and look forward to continuing our close working relationship with his successor and all commissioners."
NENA is commending Federal Communications Commissioner Robert M. McDowell for his record of commitment to improving 9-1-1 services. McDowell on Wednesday announced that he will step down from his post within a few weeks.
McDowell was first appointed to the FCC by President George W. Bush and unanimously confirmed by the Senate in 2006. He was reappointed in 2009 by President Obama and reconfirmed unanimously by the Senate.
"Commissioner McDowell is a good friend of NENA and a longtime supporter of 9-1-1 and public safety," said NENA CEO Brian Fontes. "At every turn, he has been a strong ally in addressing current challenges and accelerating the development of Next Generation 9-1-1 networks. We wish him well in his future endeavors and look forward to continuing our close working relationship with his successor and all commissioners."
EMERGENCY COMMUNICATION NEWS
NENA recently launched a FREE email news service called Public Safety SmartBrief. It provides a weekly summary of news, trends and updates on public safety issues - not just 9-1-1, but police, fire and EMS. Knowledgeable editors handpick key articles from hundreds of publications, summarize them and provide direct links to the original sources.
In other words, we do all the research and you get the latest news in your inbox or on your handheld device, absolutely free.
HELP WANTED
NENA's new and improved career center now offers more options and search functionality to job seekers and recruiters, including the ability to browse openings by category, subscribe to receive email notifications of new openings, and apply for openings directly online. Recruiters can now view and rate candidates applying for openings, search the resume database of available candidates (members-only feature), and manage postings online.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Save the Date: Nov. 2-6 at the Union Station Hotel in St. Louis, MO! This conference, held in conjunction with URISA, focuses on the importance of addresses and locations in 9-1-1, public safety, emergency management, and other fields. GIS professionals, addressing coordinators, planners, 9-1-1 and emergency response specialists come together for workshops, education, collaboration, and networking. Registration and additional details coming soon!
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