The 9-1-1 emergency services network has been in place for over forty years. Communication takes place by voice using telephone and analog lines. One of the major drawbacks of this technology is the limited ability to handle overflow, which means callers can receive a busy signal - which is, of course, highly undesirable during an emergency situation. There may be times when reporting an emergency using your voice is also not desirable. Enter Next Generation 9-1-1 (NG911).

The NG911 initiative was started in 2006 when a need for 9-1-1 service infrastructure updating was identified. The goal of NG911 is to upgrade telephone-based 9-1-1 systems to fully digital IP networks capable of receiving information by text, video, and voice. NG911 will allow public safety answering points (PSAPs) to control congestion by automatically rerouting calls to other PSAPs based on the location of the call.

Converting the 9-1-1 emergency services network to NG911 is no easy undertaking, because the emergency response system cannot allow for downtime. Preparing your PSAP for NG911 compliance is also a daunting task which must be done in incremental steps. A 2014 study conducted by Dr. Walt Magnussen at Texas A&M University for the Industry Council for Emergency Response Technologies evaluated the progress of the NG911 initiative and found that many states hadn’t started converting their 9-1-1 systems due to a lack of funding for the required capital.

In 2016 the National 911 Progress Report was issued. The National 911 Program was created to help coordinate and promote optimal 911 services, as well as provide federal leadership. Forty-six states provided data for the report which confirms the necessity of NG911. The report indicated PSAPs are receiving an increase of calls from cell phones. About 80% of all incoming calls are from cell phones. Of the states that participated in the survey, 17 have installed and are testing the NG911 infrastructure. This is almost double the number of states that had implemented NG911 in 2013.

Upgrading to NG911 is a large undertaking that must be done over time in order to ensure there are no downtimes in the 9-1-1 system. Information learned from the collection of the data can be used to foster collaboration between individual states and the Federal government, as well as provide information that can be helpful in applying for the resources needed to fully implement NG911.

While the task of converting to NG911 is an extremely large undertaking, both financially and in terms of time commitment, funding is available to help individual PSAPs with the costs associated with optimizing their 911 services. A total of $115 million was set aside for the 911 Grant Program in 2014, and it is anticipated that the grants will be awarded in 2018.

To learn more about how you can prepare your PSAP for NG911, check out our Emergency Communications Training white paper. At KOVA, we specialize in public safety solutions. To learn more about how KOVA can help you with the transition to NG911, contact us today.