June 11, 2014 Leave a Comment
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Networking

In Case of Emergency, Location Accuracy Matters

emergencyGoing to NENA next week? Join us in Booth 515.

The ability to summon emergency assistance by using a phone to call 9-1-1 has been ingrained in our society for more than 40 years.  For a successful emergency response, it is critical that the responders receive accurate location information.  Traditional wired-line telephony is able to use the location of the physical wires as a source of information for caller location, whereas wireless technologies require more exotic mechanisms to locate a 9-1-1 caller.

Current trends expose risks in the emergency response system as we know it:

  • More and more 9-1-1 calls being made with mobile devices that are not mapped to a physical phone tied to a physical location in a venue.
  • Limited GPS location capability indoors can make it difficult to pinpoint the exact location of a 9-1-1 caller in a multistory building.

Accurate caller location within a building is vital for a timely response to an emergency. With more people using cell phones while indoors, the delays that can occur when emergency responders must rely on outdoor location technologies used inside a building are becoming all too common.  This challenge can be compounded in large buildings with many floors and many rooms on each floor.

TCS and Cisco meet this challenge by using the Wi-Fi network to make emergency response faster and more efficient with:

  • Seamlessly connection of the cellular and Wi-Fi location control planes, providing results within a few meters of accuracy
  • Visibility for accurate mobile 9-1-1 caller location with wireless location mapping specific to the venue

Next week, TCS and Cisco will be presenting this innovation solution at the National Emergency Number Association conference in Nashville, Tennessee.

Come see how we’re disrupting the emergency response space at booth 515. Join us for one of our Buzz Sessions in the NENA Exhibit Hall:

  • Monday, 11:45 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.
  • Tuesday, 12:00 p.m. – 12:30 p.m.
  • Tuesday, 2:45 p.m. – 3:15 p.m.