City of Tacoma awards contract for Push-to-Talk over Broadband Service with P25 Radio Integration to ESChat
The City of Tacoma selects ESChat to augment its public safety radio network, providing encrypted end-to-end Push-to-Talk communication between traditional public safety radios and smartphone devices.
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif., Feb. 12, 2019 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- The City of Tacoma, Washington has awarded a multi-year contract for Broadband Push-to-Talk (PTT) service to ESChat. Broadband PTT service provides radio-like communication on smartphone, tablet and PC devices over commercial wireless networks. The contract includes broadband PTT service as well as integration with the City's existing Motorola P25 public safety radio network. Integration of the ESChat and Motorola systems has been performed using the P25 Inter Sub System Interface (ISSI) protocol, and provides end-to-end encrypted communications between all users.
Integration of Broadband Push-to-Talk services with traditional public safety radio systems enhances communication capability of first responders. Broadband PTT users enjoy reliable communication with dispatch and radio users while operating in areas of poor coverage or outside the radio coverage area, The selection of ESChat provides the City flexibility to use the wireless carrier(s) that best meet their needs, as ESChat supports Push-to-Talk communication on and between all wireless carriers.
The City of Tacoma's implementation, which leverages ISSI to integrate ESChat with the City's P25 network represents the most technologically advanced option for LMR to LTE integration, and is among the first of its kind to be put into commercial service. ESChat recently announced general availability of P25 Phase 2 support over ISSI, and also the availability of dynamic encryption re-keying via the P25 Key Management Facility (KMF). Both of these features are included in the Tacoma contract.
The award follows a 2017 Request for Proposal (RFP), along with post vendor selection validation testing. The delay between selection and award included a scheduled software update to the City's Motorola P25 Land Mobile Radio (LMR) network, and validation of that update with the ESChat system. Implementation of the ESChat system and P25 ISSI integration to the City's radio network was completed earlier this month.
About ESChat:
ESChat (http://www.eschat.com) is the leading provider of carrier independent Secure Broadband Push to Talk (PTT). ESChat service includes AES-256 encrypted PTT voice and multimedia messaging. ESChat also provides live and historical (bread crumb) tracking and mapping. ESChat is a FirstNet Certified™ solution, offering Quality of Service, Priority and Preemption (QPP) to FirstNet subscribers. ESChat also supports Quality of Service (QoS) enhancements on the Verizon Wireless and AT&T commercial networks. Currently used by all branches of the U.S. Military, as well as federal, state and local public safety agencies, ESChat is able to operate over and across any wireless network, including all commercial carriers, private 3G/4G networks and WiFi. ESChat supports interoperability with all LMR radio networks, including P25 via the native Inter RF Subsystem Interface (ISSI) protocol and DMR via the native Inter Application Interface Specification (AIS) protocol.
For more information, please visit http://www.eschat.com.
SOURCE ESChat
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