On Wednesday, June 10, 2009, the public safety community appointed a task force to develop requirements for a nationwide public safety 700 MHz broadband network. The fifteen member associations of the National Public Safety Telecommunications Council (NPSTC) will partner with the Department of Homeland Security, Science & Technology Directorate, Command, Control & Interoperability Division (DHS/S&T/CCI) and their technical support organization at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to define requirements for state and local networks that will ensure interoperability in a systems of systems approach to a national broadband network.
NPSTC 's organizations will provide public safety input while CCI and NIST will bring independent technical expertise and a structured standards development process to the effort. At their meeting in Arlington, Virginia, this week, the NPSTC organizations agreed to work on this issue over the next several months with a goal to complete the project this fall.
The task force will conduct its first conference call Friday June 19th at 0900 Pacific time (12 noon ET) with expectation of weekly conference calls and a face to face meeting on July 16-17. Anyone interested in joining the task force please follow this link to register:
These meetings are open to the public and anyone interested is encouraged to participate. The primary purpose of the Task Force is to develop recommendations on the minimum elements required for a National Interoperability Framework to help ensure interoperability across all systems deployed.
The Task Force will NOT be re-defining the statement of requirements (SOR) that NPSTC issued previously on November 13, 2007. Under a regional model, it is our expectation that any region deploying its own system will define the requirements to provide operability for that respective area. We expect to complete the project by the end of August and appreciate all volunteers.