WASHINGTON, DC -- (MARKET WIRE) -- October 18, 2006 -- Mobile broadband HSPA technology will soon
be ready to deliver the services needed by Americans for public safety.
This message was delivered and demonstrated by experts representing 3G
Americas, a wireless trade association promoting the ubiquitous service
delivery of the GSM family of technologies -- the world's leading mobile
wireless technology.
On October 18, 2006 at the Ronald Reagan International Trade Center, 3G
Americas hosted a mobile broadband wireless technology briefing with
demonstrations focused on public safety for representatives of the FCC,
NTIA, Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security, ITA, State
Department, USTR, APCO, NENA and others.
"The development of mobile broadband wireless standards will provide
exciting opportunities for public safety," stated Chris Pearson, President
of 3G Americas. "Public safety agencies, and the people they protect, will
benefit from the GSM technology family, with its open standards and
cost-effective, off-the-shelf equipment that will support emergency and
homeland security applications."
Benefits of mobile broadband for public safety include a global commercial
GSM/HSPA ecosystem of infrastructure, devices and applications. This
ecosystem of suppliers has tremendous ongoing investment in research and
development, afforded by the enormous scope of the GSM/HSPA technology's
more than 2 billion customers worldwide. These economies of scale allow
for 'best in class' mobile broadband services for public safety
stakeholders based on GSM's open and non-proprietary standard, which
provides secure, interoperable, dependable and flexible communications.
At the technology briefing, FCC Commissioner Robert M. McDowell provided a
keynote address followed by leading wireless experts who addressed
technology trends of the wireless evolution to 3G and beyond, the role of
semiconductors in mobile phones, and live HSPA demonstrations that
showcased public safety applications. Notable speakers were Kris Rinne, 3G
Americas' Chair and CTO of Cingular Wireless, Keith Shank, Director of
Ericsson Experience, Paul Mankiewich, CTO of Lucent Technologies' Network
Solutions Group, and Bill Krenik, Chief Technologist of Wireless Business,
Texas Instruments.
3G Americas featured demonstrations over a 'live' private HSPA network to
highlight the power of mobile broadband HSPA technology for key purposes in
public safety. Replicating "real life" public safety scenarios, 3G
Americas demonstrated how various emergency and planning teams -- from
local to Federal -- can interoperate and transfer critical voice and data
information utilizing different devices in any field location.
Vicki Livingston, Director of Marketing for 3G Americas, stated, "These
demonstrations are reminiscent of the popular television series '24,' with
many applications possible today for real-life public safety."
One demonstration scenario depicted a fire at a nuclear facility with
control of the fire, facility evacuation, medical assistance and broader
community evacuation handled by local fire, police, medical services and
state police, with support from various Federal agencies. Applications
utilized on the HSPA network included: live video sharing to provide
real-time visual information to public safety groups, access assurance to
prioritize radio traffic for the responders and their support teams, high
speed data access to demonstrate the concept of how first responders in the
field can obtain critical data from state and Federal agencies, remote
surveillance to allow all supporting agencies a view of the scene and
location based services (LBS) to launch an APB and allow public safety
officials to send IM (instant messaging) to police and medical units with a
locater application to show positions of teams and issue appropriate
coordination commands.
Another demonstration scenario involved a fire and medical emergency where
four public safety groups -- police, fire, EMT and hospital ER doctors --
interacting by 3G wireless over the HSPA network utilized capabilities such
as Push-to-Talk (PoC) over IP, High Speed Download, Streaming Video uplink
for surveillance, and Presence and Location Based Services. In this
scenario, the services allowed for the creation of a group PoC session
between the involved safety officers, map sharing of the emergency site
location, live video at the scene, access to internal database information,
'whiteboard' session with the floor plan of a building sent to a phone,
Instant Messaging, high speed data transmission of medical information and
live video monitoring of medical information from ambulance EMTs and ER
physicians.
"Americans require new technology to provide the highest possible levels of
public safety," concluded Livingston, "and the commercial mobile broadband
capabilities of the GSM family will deliver the best case scenario for
public well-being in the U.S. and worldwide."
What is HSPA?
HSPA or High Speed Packet Access, including both HSDPA for the downlink and
HSUPA for the uplink, is the third generation (3G) technology evolution for
GSM/UMTS and provides high speed wireless connectivity. HSDPA offers the
benefits of mobile broadband data throughput speeds in excess of 1 Mbps in
favorable conditions for the downlink, reduced latency to 70-100
milliseconds and greatly improved spectral efficiency. When commercially
deployed in 2007, enhanced uplink performance with HSUPA will offer users
peak achievable rates close to 1 Mbps under favorable conditions.
There are currently
289 operators in 110 countries committed to deploying UMTS, the 3G
technology that is enhanced through a simple upgrade with HSDPA/HSUPA
(HSPA) technology; 135 UMTS networks are commercial today in 57 countries,
including 66 networks that have enhanced UMTS by commercially deploying
HSDPA. 3G Americas expects that eventually all UMTS operators will deploy
HSPA, providing this technology with the mobile broadband leadership role.
About 3G Americas: Unifying the Americas Through Wireless Technology
The mission of 3G Americas is to promote and facilitate the seamless
deployment throughout the Americas of GSM and its evolution to 3G and
beyond. The organization fully supports the Third Generation (3G)
technology migration strategy to EDGE and UMTS/HSPA adopted by many
operators in the Americas that is expected to account for up to 85% of
next-generation customers worldwide. 3G Americas is headquartered in
Bellevue, WA with an office for Latin America and the Caribbean in Dallas,
TX. For more information, visit our website at
www.3gamericas.org.
Glossary
GSM - Global System for Mobile Communications
GPRS - General Packet Radio Service
EDGE - Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution
HSDPA - High Speed Downlink Packet Access
HSUPA - High Speed Uplink Packet Access
HSPA - High Speed Packet Access (both HSDPA and HSUPA)
LBS - Location Based Services
UMTS/WCDMA - Universal Mobile Telephone Service/Wideband Code Division
Multiple Access
APCO - Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials
FCC - Federal Communications Commission
ITA - International Trade Administration
NENA - National Emergency Number Association
NTIA - National Telecommunications and Information Administration
USTR - United States Trade Representative
Contact Information: Contact:
Vicki Livingston
+1 262 242 3458
Email Contact