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Technology on view for Tomorrow's World
At the end of April the public safety community will be converging in London to visit the annual BAPCO conference and exhibition. Highlighting why all civil contingency responders should make the effort to attend, we complete our series of features on the event with an exclusive preview of what the exhibition will have on offer...
Collaboration, intelligent integration and emerging technologies are all areas increasingly being discussed, piloted and implemented across the public safety sector, not just in the UK but on the international scene. And no wonder, since they are fundamental areas that are helping address efficiency drivers within the civil contingency, homeland security and mission critical markets.
These very elements coupled with business continuity applications are the core to managing expectations for not only tomorrow’s world but today’s very real needs. Therefore, the BAPCO 2007 exhibition (running alongside the conference) which plays host to showcasing a plethora of applications all focussing on these very points, is certain to be packed to the rafters with users, consultants and suppliers alike.
Companies such as Intergraph, for instance, intend using the BAPCO exhibition to raise the profile of inter-agency collaboration. The company will be showing how information flow, data sharing protocols can be used real time in major incident planning systems. In fact, applications that are currently being used in anger outside of the UK are already highlighting the importance of inter-agency working, underlining that the technology is available, it is perhaps simply a case of cultural reform that needs to be addressed for successful collaborative systems.
Intergraph’s presence at the exhibition and the products and services being promoted also ties in with the conference presentation on Wednesday, ‘Providing a scalable, resilient incident management system’ which addresses the ever increasing feeds of information into operational and intelligence centres, the need for better tools to manage this information and assist decision-makers in collaborating and determining the appropriate response.
EADS will also be prevalent at the show, demonstrating its capabilities following the very recent announcement of the FireControl project.
Close by, in fact the stand next door will see Telent demonstrating the advantages that a managed service can bring to the public safety sector, for instance its work (a complete managed service) on FireLink with Airwave.
controlling position
Amongst the plethora of command and control solution suppliers at this year’s event, Fortek will be presenting its Vision solution. This enterprise wide system has been designed for the International Emergency Services and is formulated to meet all of the call handling, dispatch and incident management requirements. Vision allows different users to access and use the functionality offered and also interfaces with a range of third party solutions and databases for intelligent integration.
Fortek has also recently announced that Vision has been selected by Mid and West Wales FRS to allow the service to take full advantage of the initiatives and technologies deployed by central government. Furthermore, Vision assists in the delivery of the Integrated Risk Management Programme (IRMP), fulfilling the requirement of the FRS to fully realise the benefits of IRMP.
BAPCO 2007 will also be the platform that Sungard uses to launch its latest version of the DS2000 Integrated Communication Control System (See page 40 for full details). In addition Sungard will also be demonstrating the DS2000 configuration currently being deployed into UK Ambulance Trusts as part of the ARP project.
Pennine Telecom returns to the exhibition this year with new and exciting additions to its portfolio of a total communications solution. Its launch of Canopy, which provides wireless connectivity to remote local sites without incurring ongoing line rental costs is an ideal means to extend or bridge networks, transmit CCTV or VoIP.
Pennine’s recent installations of Command and Control systems at British Nuclear Group’s Fire and Rescue Control Room at Sellafield (see page 26) and five Civil Nuclear Constabulary facilities at Harwell, Capenhurst, Chapelcross, Springfields and Sellafield utilising Zetron DCS-5020 and Airwave, are all proving very successful.
intelligent integration
During the event, Frequentis will be showing how customers can benefit from newly developed concepts. The focus lies on intelligent integration of voice communication and data & video systems. A further highlight will be an interactive data solution.
ICCS, C&C, CCTV, GIS, mobile platforms and many other IT systems in and around the control room provide a great deal of functionality to the operator. Much has been done in connecting these systems to enable the exchange of information and to optimise workflows. Frequentis provides the intelligent integration of all separate systems (voice communication, data and video systems). It takes into account the operators, their current and future operational procedures, the environment and technological possibilities. It focuses on delivering to operators stress reduced solutions for day-to-day tasks and explores directions for increased efficiency and effectiveness on an End to End basis.
The stand will also reflect the company’s joint presentation with the Metropolitan Police Service at the Conference in the ‘Managing and sharing information’ Workshop on Wednesday 25th of April. Frequentis will present its concepts for innovative working position setups and the importance of user involvement in the successful design, configuration and deployment of new systems.
enhancing performance
With Government enforced targets the Emergency Services are required to meet, managers of emergency call-taking and dispatch centres must find ways to improve the performance of their teams. Powerful call recording, retrieval and quality management solutions from Verint help to enhance the performance of emergency response, public safety and control room operations. Designed for superior reliability in mission-critical environments, Audiolog from Verint can record all calls and related data in virtually any public safety situation. Built on thousands of successful implementations, Audiolog helps emergency command and control centres, security agencies, transport networks, prisons and other public safety organisations perform more effectively.
Verint’s presence at the exhibition is also reflected in, and provides a hands on experience of the presentation to be made by Paul Collins on ‘Actionable Intelligence for a Safer World and Smarter Enterprise’. This presentation considers the use of speech analytics as a tool to transform unstructured spoken content into actionable critical insight, thus generating value from dialogue and applying speech recognition technology to reveal critical information that we would not otherwise know.
Staying with performance related products another exhibitor, Cadcorp will be showcasing its latest versions of its internet/intranet-based GIS software, the new Cadcorp SIS Pictometry Viewer and the new OS MasterMap ITN Manager.
Demonstrating these latest developments, Cadcorp will be joined by business partners MIS Emergency Systems Ltd who will be showcasing its command and control systems.
Another company who will be showcasing its latest technologies designed to improve communications and efficiency within the emergency services sector is Arqiva’s Public Safety Division.
Arqiva will demonstrate the latest modules from its Police Mobile Data Solution. The solution that provides a seamless data flow between the officer on the ground and the control room can now be connected to a small printer carried on a belt, which enables officers to fill out and print digital forms at the scene. Designed to cut paperwork and ensure officers spend more time on the streets, the solution stores information on a central drive for easy retrieval and reporting.
Additionally Arqiva will be demonstrating its next generation mobile data solutions for the ambulance services, Mobilise II and Formalise II. The fully managed systems help improve the efficiency of ambulance services through electronic patient record forms and the wireless transfer of incident information.
mobile efficiency
Mobile technology is without doubt one of the most significant ICT developments of recent years, and with more and more adoptions of the technology across the public safety sector, Brother UK will be demonstrating the (acclaimed) world’s smallest, self contained mobile printer - the MPrint MW-140BT, to offer a lightweight portable solution to printing on the move. The device is proving to be the perfect partner for a range of public sector organisations and some of these will be illustrated on Brother’s stand at BAPCO 2007.
BAPCO 2007 will also see ‘Brigid’ the new generation of mobile data solutions on Cyfas Systems stand. Through an agreement with Seed Software to market, fully integrate the application software and its advance networking to the command and control applications in the UK public safety sector.
The Brigid applications can run on various makes of hardware, the Fire version is fully operational with a number of clients offering a fully integrated mobile data solution between their emergency fleet and a FRS command and control call handling and dispatch system. This advance technology, already running in a brigade,has improved immensely against traditional mobile data systems. (See the full report in next month’s issue).
A police mobile data and AVLS version of the application is also available and Cyfas is currently seeking police partners to pilot this.
Innogistic Software will be demonstrating its solution known as CFRMIS Mobile, which cuts out the need for paper forms and the administrative overheads associated with data re-entry. In fact the company has recently confirmed that 25% of the English Fire and Rescue Services are currently implementing the system which is set to deliver significant efficiency gains in both Technical and Community Fire Safety Work.
Using the system, fire safety officers are able to download scheduled jobs such as Home Fire Safety Checks or Fire Safety Audits to an electronic device such as a Tablet PC or PDA and complete them offline.
Staying with mobility, Motorola will be showcasing its critical communications portfolio including its wide range of TETRA terminals and solutions, and its MESH ad-hoc wireless broadband solution. The company will demonstrate its wireless data solutions by running Police National Computer checks over TETRA PDAs and video cameras over resilient MESH technology.
In addition, as part of the conference programme, Motorola’s Dr. Fred Preston will speak on the subject of mobile biometric identity solutions at 3.45pm on Thursday, in the main auditorium. His presentation: “The future of mobile identity solutions: security, safety and mobility”, will make use of a case study to highlight the implementation of mobile identity solutions in a European organisation. Dr. Preston will discuss both existing applications and the future possibilities for mobile biometric identification devices.
Another next generation network technology company will also be highlighting how its solutions can manage every manner of incident from fighting fires, to dealing with natural and man made disasters, fighting crime and combating terrorism. As well as mobile solutions Excelerate also supplies a range of fixed solutions to suit every possible requirement from rural residents devoid of terrestrial communications to sophisticated, resilient, point to point satellite networks for either primary communications or contingency and business continuity provision.
Alongside the many mobile data and integrated communications applications, the event, wouldn’t be a true communications and IT exhibition without companies such as Tait Europe, who will showcasing its P25 digital offering. Designed to meet the APCO 25 standard, Tait Europe’s digital PMR range offers excellent audio quality, superior encryption technology and open systems, plus being backwards compatible with analogue radios, the P25 equipment enables users to gradually migrate their systems.
a plethora of new product launches
Amongst the many other numerous exhibitors launching and demonstrating products during the two day exhibition, Sonic Communications will be introducing its new Rugged Transportable Station, which is the result of a joint development project between Sonic and Sepura and represents the first production man portable, multi applications SRG based base station / gateway. Sonic also plans to use BAPCO 2007 to demonstrate the latest development of covert wireless control for users of the Sepura RCU and other Sonic accessories where wireless functionality is desirable.
Seasoned exhibitor, Syntech, will be showing a range of new test, measurement and analysis products such as in-depth TETRA performance testing, remote status application for fire and call detail record analysis.
PJ International Leathercrafts has combined with Radio Hardware Supplies to form PJ &RHS Ltd, the new organisation will be demonstrating its own make of leather cases and possibly one of the widest ranges of audio accessories available from one source for Motorola and Sepura TETRA radios. BAPCO 2007 will also see the launch of the recently licensed Click-on system.
The event will also see the exclusive launch of a new product from MAL (as yet un-named although we believe it may be announced as Siren) a product for the retained fire-fighter market. (See the full report in next month’s issue).
This new product will be able to monitor and record the availability of retained fire-fighters, providing essential information for both command and control as well as station managers. The system will sit on the brigade network providing remote access for authorised users to interrogate the information held, thus being able to aid the business processes of the station and providing retained fire-fighters with the ability to amend their own availability as and when required.
All in all the BAPCO 2007 exhibition which runs alongside the influential conference, promises to live up to its internationally recognised showcase for the public safety sector. In fact, based on the level of new and emerging technologies that will be on show it is set to be far more informative than ever before. This year also sees the return of the showcase theatre, to share experiences and case studies in free seminar sessions.
FREE TETRA health seminar
On the opening day of BAPCO 2007 (Tuesday 24 at 2pm) The TETRA Industry Group (TIG) will be hosting a seminar at the BDC.
Providing an overview of the science concerning TETRA and health descriptions of a number of recently published studies. This free to attend seminar will be of interest to current and prospective users of Airwave or other TETRA systems, medical officers within the emergency services and anyone implementing TETRA projects.
To register visit www.bapco.co.uk.
exclusive launch notice
Frequentis will be previewing an extremely intuitive application, the Strip Data. (Pictured opposite) This application is a live data version of incident paper handling as known in the public safety sector. Currently utilised in Air Traffic Control as electronic flight strips, the information can easily be applied to incident data. The solution meets the business needs and integration requirements of the emergency services.
tracking new products
Arqiva will showcase a new asset management service designed to aid the tracking and allocation of communication devices for all emergency services.
A Responsibility
Public safety is facing a growing number of challenges from diverse sources such as the threat of disasters from natural and man made scenarios to organisational changes that will impact the manner in which services are delivered in the future.
Moreover, under the UK's Civil Contingencies Act, business continuity and information management are key Local Authority responsibilities.
If you are responsible for choosing the right information management system for your organisation, then do not miss BAPCO 2007 at the BDC, London
from 25-26 April 2007.
Fast facts
Event: BAPCO 2007 conference & exhibition
Venue: BDC, Islington, London
Dates: 25-26 April 2007
To register visit www.bapco.co.uk.
