City of Westminster Deploys In Motion Technology to Support City-Wide Public Safety Initiative

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Our IT teams are excited about what the onBoard Mobility Manager delivers – a complete view of the mobile network, and an early warning of connectivity issues both over cellular but also over station Wi-Fi networks.

Vancouver, BC and Westminster, CO (PRWEB) October 29, 2013

In Motion Technology, the leader in mobile enterprise networks, today announced that the City of Westminster has deployed its system to support city-wide fire and EMS fleet, as well as the police department’s SWAT vehicle. The system supports unparalleled secure mobile access to the City’s corporate network for mobile workers in these departments, and provides real-time status to the City’s IT team of connectivity to radio networks.

Founded in 1934 as a single-station, volunteer organization, the department employs over 130 career firefighters, paramedics and support staff across six stations, and supports over 108,000 residents and thousands of businesses across 34 square miles. The department was referred to In Motion Technology by West Metro Fire Protection District that has used the onBoard system for over five years.

Before In Motion, the City was using USB radio modems in vehicle laptops. These proved problematic, largely because of the rugged nature of fire apparatus. Signals were inconsistent and unreliable across the service area.

“The changes in wireless technology forced us to look for a solution that would keep pace with changes in the environment,” said Rich Welz, Fire Captain, Technical Services Coordination. “In Motion’s products are built for a mobile environment, and give flexibility to individual departments to connect the applications and use the networks that best meet their needs.”

The department needed to have reliable connectivity across wide-area cellular networks, but also around the vehicle to support hand-held dispatch applications which will be running on smartphones. “In the future, our Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) system will be available to first responders on their mobile phones, and we want to use the Wi-Fi hotspot capability of the gateway for this application,” said Welz. “Our IT teams are excited about what the onBoard Mobility Manager delivers – a complete view of the mobile network, and an early warning of connectivity issues both over cellular but also over station Wi-Fi networks.”

The City has deployed onBoard Mobile Gateways in its vehicles that require mobile office capability, and uses In Motion’s onBoard Mobility Manager to monitor and manage the fleet.

The gateways support a variety of devices and applications in ambulances and fire apparatus, including computer aided dispatch, fire reporting, electronic patient care records, defibrillators, mobile data computers, mobile phones, and tablets.

The impact of the technology for the City has been improved intelligence about vehicle locations, connectivity, carrier and Wi-Fi network performance.

“We’re just beginning to discover how powerful the onBoard Mobility Manager is to our operation,” explained Welz. “Our ability to oversee and manage the overall IT environment for our mobile workforce, and the new uses we see for this technology every day will improve our responses and worker safety.”

“With this new technology, citizens of the City of Westminster are seeing improved service levels, while first responders are able to leverage new technologies and applications,” said Tony Morris, In Motion Technology VP of Sales and Marketing. “We are very proud to provide a solution that enables secure, reliable access to the applications that first responders need to do their jobs more efficiently and effectively.”

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City of Westminster, Colorado
Incorporated in 1911, the City of Westminster, Colorado is a recipient of the International Livable Communities Award and noted as one of Money Magazine’s “Hottest Towns.” Westminster is a great place to live, work, and play and fosters a sense of community through its award-winning recreation and community centers, libraries, and programs/classes. The city is home to a well-educated workforce, excellent public schools, and five colleges.

In Motion Technology Inc.
In Motion Technology is the leader in mobile enterprise networks that provide customers with fleets in mission critical environments with a secure, managed end-to-end communications system. The company’s solution includes a powerful management platform, an application suite designed to improve situational awareness, industry leading mobile-optimized security and a rugged in-vehicle mobile router. In Motion’s solutions are used by hundreds of public safety, transit and utility fleets across the United States and Canada. For more information, please contact Louise Labuda at (604) 523-2371 or visit In Motion Technology, Twitter, and Facebook.

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