NICE Systems to Help Accelerate Development of Next Generation 9-1-1; Joins NENA’s Next Generation Partner Program

NICE will bring its extensive experience with Next Gen 9-1-1-ready solutions to the NENA Program

By Linda Haelsen, NICE Systems

NICE Systems is pleased to announce its membership in the National Emergency Number Association (NENA) Next Generation Partner Program (NGPP). NENA is the leading professional non-profit organization dedicated solely to 9-1-1 emergency communications issues. The NGPP was created to anticipate the impact of emerging technologies on 9-1-1 services and provide an expert forum to accelerate the development of Next Generation 9-1-1 (NG9-1-1) systems.

NICE has been at the forefront of NG9-1-1 ready solutions for 9-1-1 centers since 2003, when it began developing the NICE Inform multimedia incident information management solution. Since its launch in 2007, NICE Inform has been deployed at hundreds of sites, including some of the world’s largest public safety departments. NICE also has broad domain expertise in adjacent NG9-1-1 technologies, including video surveillance and situation management, which it will bring to NENA’s NGPP to help accelerate progress toward Next Generation 9-1-1.

Members of the NENA NGPP include service providers, vendors, allied public safety associations, several 9-1-1 authorities and state 9-1-1 offices. NICE will work with other NGPP constituents to support progress toward Next Generation 9-1-1 by tackling critical institutional, policy and regulatory transition challenges, and by supporting standards design, testing and certification of NG9-1-1 solutions.

NICE is also represented on the NENA NG9-1-1 Industry Collaboration Event (ICE) Planning Committee, a vendor-based team that operates under NENA’s guidance and sponsorship to advance the development of NG9-1-1-related components and facilitate the transition to Next Generation 9-1-1. With the success of the first-ever NENA ICE in November 2009 for NG9-1-1 components, the second event, scheduled to take place in the second quarter of 2010, will focus on interoperability testing of vendor products, interfaces and gateways, to support the transition from a legacy 9-1-1 environment to NG9-1-1.

“With Next Generation 9-1-1 on the horizon, Public Safety communications are on the threshold of an amazing transformation,” commented NENA’s Technical Issues Director Roger Hixson, ENP. ”The NENA Next Generation Partner Program was founded, in part, to provide a forum for resolution of basic issues that, if unresolved, would block progress toward NG9-1-1. NENA is pleased that NICE is part of the program and will join in shaping the success of these efforts. It’s critical that key providers of public safety solutions, such as NICE, are involved in the interoperability testing process.”

“The ultimate goal of NENA’s Next Generation Partner Program is to ensure that everyone has access to emergency services anytime, anywhere, from any device,” said Chris Wooten, president, Security Division Americas, NICE. “NICE is looking forward to playing an active role in the NGPP and being part of the larger collaborative effort that will ultimately help make the vision of Next Generation 9-1-1 a reality. Our customers can also be assured that the NICE public safety solutions they invest in today are NG9-1-1-ready for tomorrow.

About NICE Systems
NICE Systems is the leading provider of Insight from Interactions solutions and value-added services, powered by advanced analytics of unstructured multimedia content – from telephony, web, radio and video communications. NICE’s solutions address the needs of the enterprise and security markets, enabling organizations to operate in an insightful and proactive manner, and take immediate action to improve business and operational performance and ensure safety and security. NICE has over 24,000 customers in more than 150 countries, including more than 85 of the Fortune 100 companies. More information is availabe at http://www.nice.com.

About the National Emergency Number Association
NENA is The Voice of 9-1-1™. NENA promotes implementation and awareness of 9-1-1 as North America’s universal emergency number. NENA is the leading professional non-profit organization dedicated solely to 9-1-1 emergency communications issues. NENA serves its nearly 7,000 members in 48 chapters across the U.S., Canada and Mexico through policy advocacy, establishment of technical and operational standards, certification programs and a broad spectrum of educational offerings. Find out more at www.nena.org.