Baltimore County Implements Next-Generation 9-1-1 Infrastructure from Unify

BOCA RATON, Fla., May 7, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Unify, a leading communications software and services firm, today announced Baltimore County, Maryland, is an early adopter of Unify's OpenScape platform for the county's transformation to a Next Generation 9-1-1 (NG9-1-1) operation

Located just outside of Washington, DC, and home to two major universities, Baltimore County's highly trained public safety staff serves a population of more than 800,000 residents and more than 20 million visitors each year. Baltimore County 9-1-1 manages and coordinates emergency response and disaster preparedness activities with some of the most advanced public safety processes and solutions available. Coordinating dispatch with over 55 individual fire stations, 10 police precincts, three helicopter units and over 2,000 sworn personnel, Baltimore County 9-1-1 serves as the central command center for one of the largest metropolitan areas in the nation.

To improve public safety and ensure the highest quality care and service for residents and visitors, Baltimore County 9-1-1 has established itself as the benchmark for the state's NG9-1-1 migration vision through its use of technology and prudent spending. One of first examples of NG9-1-1 migration and infrastructure enhancement in the country, Unify provided the Baltimore County Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) with OpenScape Voice and OpenScape Contact Center, delivering the integrated framework they needed to convert their legacy infrastructure onto a SIP-based platform. 

"With our legacy hardware solution, 9-1-1 responders were expected to pick up the call, handle the inquiry, dispatch emergency personnel, and resolve the issue without access to real-time information," said Ray Windisch, 9-1-1 Coordinator at Baltimore County. "Now, with OpenScape, we have not had a system-caused  lost call or center outage, even when some of the largest natural disasters on record have hit our region."  

With OpenScape, 9-1-1 calls can be routed according to priority and directed to the appropriate specialized call taker in the first instance, without manual intervention. Inherent to the OpenScape IP network architecture, Baltimore County has geo-diverse, Active-Active call management between its Primary and Alternate PSAP locations.  Today, the Alternate PSAP can be staffed for call overflow or emergencies.  Additionally, the alternate PSAP location will be staffed 7x24 at the additional positions, providing additional geo-redundancy for the county's 911 call management operations.

"Because of our software-based emergency communication system, we are able to staff the 9-1-1 solution so as many Emergency Call Takers (ECTs) can handle citizen's emergencies. Additionally, our system is not hardware based, we do not have to come in and manually activate additional positions," said Windisch. "Finally, we don't have on-site technicians; we need a software solution that enables us to act quickly and intuitively."

"Baltimore County is a benchmark example for other PSAPs on how to successfully migrate to NG9-1-1," said Dan Papes, Executive Vice President, North America, for Unify. "OpenScape delivers the collaboration technology Baltimore County's various public safety entities require to communicate most effectively and deliver superior public safety."

Going forward, Unify will work with Baltimore County to leverage their existing investment and bring their internal call management operations to an integrated application layer, empowering their PSAP with the most advanced communications management solution in the US. This will set the benchmark for the rest of the state of Maryland to follow as they migrate to NG9-1-1.

About Unify
Unify is one of the world's leading communications software and services firms, providing integrated communications solutions for approximately 75 percent of the Fortune Global 500. Our solutions, including Circuit, unify multiple networks, devices and applications into one easy-to-use platform that allows teams to engage in rich and meaningful conversations. The result is a transformation of how the enterprise communicates and collaborates that amplifies collective effort, energizes the business, and enhances business performance. Unify has a strong heritage of product reliability, innovation, open standards and security.

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