[IP] Cook County Goes All Wireless with IBM
Begin forwarded message:
From: Dewayne Hendricks <dewayne@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: November 2, 2005 6:38:16 AM EST
To: Dewayne-Net Technology List <dewayne-net@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [Dewayne-Net] Cook County Goes All Wireless with IBM
Reply-To: dewayne@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Cook County Goes All Wireless with IBM
By Karen Brown
November 1, 2005
<http://www.wirelessweek.com/toc-newsat2direct/11/01/05?starting=5>
Cook County, Ill., is among the local governments jumping on the
wireless bandwagon in a big way - in fact, it may well be the first
county in the United States to go all wireless for its public safety
communications system with help from IBM.
The suburban Chicago county has tapped IBM Global Services technology
and systems to build a wireless government communications system that
covers the county and all of its 128 municipalities.
"Their desire was to be the first wireless county in the country, and
I believe that is the case," says Diana Hage, director of wireless
services at IBM.
The project calls for emergency response vehicles to be equipped with
wireless communication radios, cameras, digital video recorders and
laptops. Perhaps more importantly, it also gives officers in the
various jurisdictions a common system to communicate during larger
emergency incidents. Initially 80 patrol cars will be outfitted with
the wireless connections and video cameras.
Modules built into the cars will support multiple radio connections
including cellular and Wi-Fi radios. When officers are on the road
and the cellular communications grid is lost, the module will search
for alternative Wi-Fi or other network connections. Separate access
devices mounted in the car also will supply iDEN-based walkie-talkie
communications.
Setting up a wireless scheme lessens the probability that the vital
communications link will be severed during a major man-made or
natural disaster. But Cook County also is looking at the systems as a
means to move toward video policing, Hage says.
Mounting video cameras on patrol cars "gives them more visibility -
what they call more eyes on the street," she notes.
The video capability is just one way - the wireless system installed
in the patrol cars can also display video and graphics, including
maps of surrounding neighborhoods and pictures of suspects being
sought for arrest. Pole-mounted video cameras in the community also
give police officers a bird's-eye view of the area.
Other local government agencies are looking at similar schemes.
Industrywide, 99 communities have implemented these newer, more
sophisticated public safety communications systems, and about 199
other communities are planning to deploy them in the next year. Six
to 10 such communities have recently contacted IBM, and overall the
market is "raining RFIs or RFPs, and municipalities are looking to
leverage the grant money form the Department of Homeland Security to
get these networks in place," Hage says.
Weblog at: <http://weblog.warpspeed.com>
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