Case Study: How to upgrade a 911 network with VoIP

When asked to describe his department's effort to upgrade an aging emergency 911 system, South Carolina's project leader, John Murray, says it has been like going from the days of the Wright brothers in aviation to achieving the speed of a Blackbird military plane. But to be sure it didn't happen as quick as the network speed capability. Initiated in 2000, the first few years involved building a business plan, finding and getting funding, developing a communications plan and getting the necessary sign offs and approvals on the agency and state level. A key element toward success, says Murray, was creating a public safety communications advisory committee featuring reps from police, fire and emergency organizations -- all involved in the planning process. All that early work paid off in the county being the first system in the nation to go with Voice over Internet Protocol on a 911 system. The network features fault tolerant servers on the hardware level and is using parallel operations during the switch from the old to the new technology. And the work is far from over -- the tech leader says he's got a year and half of work left to do.

For more on the 911 rollout:
- read this article from NetworkWorld