Department of the Army: Closing the Next Generation 9-1-1 Capability Gap

May, 2019
IDA document: D-10648
FFRDC: Systems and Analyses Center
Type: Documents
Division: Information Technology and Systems Division
Authors:
Authors
Serena Chan, Michael T. Hernon See more authors
The telecommunications industry is retiring its legacy switches, routers, and associated analog networks and replacing them with more capable and robust digital components based on Internet Protocol (IP) networking. Consequently, the suite of technologies underlying the way that first responder organizations, including those in the Army, currently receive, process, and respond to 9-1-1 calls will require migrating to an IP-based 9-1-1 environment, known as Next Generation 9-1-1 (NG911). Many states and local jurisdictions across the U.S. have already begun transitioning their public safety answering points to NG911, resulting in a burgeoning capability gap with the Army environment. This migration is critical, as installations that do not upgrade will become, at best, islands unable to share information with critical mission partners; at worst, they will become unable to process emergency requests for service at all. Thus, the Army requires a comprehensive, enterprise-wide strategy guiding the acquisition and deployment of NG911 capabilities.