TeleCommunication Systems, Inc. (TCS) (NASDAQ:TSYS), a global leader in wireless data technology, has announced it has deployed Voice Over Internet Protocol E9-1-1 service for Las Vegas, Nevada-based CommPartners, a Voice Over Internet Protocol ("VoIP") facilitator providing IP telephony services and connectivity to service providers. The deployment is the latest in TCS' E9-1-1 services that have been deployed in states across the United States since 1998. The service delivers a set of comprehensive capabilities meant to address the broad range of challenges for emergency services that are posed by current VoIP technologies.

CommPartners, with a growing national base of resellers, has incorporated TCS' E9-1-1 VoIP service with its suite of VoIP offerings. TCS' solution meets the requirements and expectations of E9-1-1 services offered to traditional landline and wireless subscribers. It supports a wide range of VoIP solutions ranging from those offering a landline replacement to those providing the business traveler with VoIP connectivity wherever he plugs into the Internet. Existing 9-1-1 solutions for VoIP are hampered by several limitations; key among them are slow location updates and inefficient routing. These limitations are typically the result of trying to provide VoIP E9-1-1 by upgrading the existing wireline E9-1-1 infrastructure rather than taking a more dynamic approach.

Wireline phones are statically connected to specific locations; thus, the wireline phone number can be mapped to that specific location. VoIP phones, however, are not necessarily tied to the same location each time a call is made. Many VoIP service providers allow their customers to make calls from any location as long as they can connect into the VoIP service provider's data network. Thus, unlike E9-1-1 calls originating from wireline phones, VoIP E9-1-1 calls cannot be mapped to a specific location based upon phone number alone. This is similar to the problem that wireless carriers originally faced with their customers: the phone number of a wireless subscriber did not automatically identify the location from which the person was calling. In 1998, TCS engineers worked with the States of Indiana to solve this challenge by extracting information about the caller's location from the wireless network as the call was being made. Since then, TCS has worked actively with the wireless industry to deploy innovative wireless E9-1-1 technology around the country and now supports tens of millions of subscribers who make tens of thousands of wireless E9-1-1 calls daily. TCS is now applying these lessons learned to solve similar challenges for CommPartners' VoIP customer base.

Where others are trying to update the wireline databases, which can take up to 48 hours to activate, TCS provides mechanisms to its customers that allow the information to be updated and validated in a fraction of the time and uses this information to dynamically route the call to the appropriate Public Safety Answering Point, of which there are over 6500 in the United States.

"Deploying TCS' authentic E9-1-1 VoIP solution positions us to set the bar for emergency services via VoIP," said Dave Clark, President of CommPartners. "When subscribers choose a telephony solution, they expect a certain level of service - that the quality of the call will be good and that they can dial 911 with assurance they will be connected to emergency personnel without any unnecessary delay. With TCS' E91-1 VoIP service, we now have a complete solution that meets and exceeds our customers' expectations."

"CommPartners is interested in providing a complete, reliable E9-1-1 solution for its comprehensive VoIP service and would not settle for less," said Robert Dawson, Senior Vice President of Service Bureau Operations for TCS. "E9-1-1 VoIP is a natural extension to TCS' years of proven location and wireless E91-1 experience and we look forward to taking those offerings to the next level in the public safety arena."

COPYRIGHT 2004 Millin Publishing, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2005 Gale Group