2018-01-10

City of Philadelphia Adopts New VESTA 9-1-1 Call Handling Solution

Source: The Critical Communications Review | Gert Jan Wolf editor

The geodiverse VESTA 9-1-1 solution allows the city of Philadelphia to have a two-host system for total redundancy and confidence in providing 9-1-1 service.

Airbus DS Communications has recently migrated the city of Philadelphia's 9-1-1 system. Its Calltakers will now join their peers in more than 13,000 U.S. 9-1-1 positions who are using the company's VESTA® 9-1-1 Call Handling solution. The new system lays the groundwork for the City to transition to Next Generation 9-1-1 (NG9-1-1) technology and accept new forms of emergency requests from its citizens.

For 11 years, the city of Philadelphia has relied on Airbus DS Communications solutions to help keep its community of 1.5 million residents safe. The company's 9-1-1 technologies have been deployed in the City's four Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs), which host a total of 125 positions - 40 positions within the main PSAP, 47 in the backup center, 15 in the training center, and 23 positions situated at the Philadelphia Fire Department. A thorough plan has recently been executed to roll-out the new VESTA 9-1-1 system and maintain the robust and reliable 9-1-1 program its citizens have come to expect and deserve.

"We are proud to deliver our VESTA 9-1-1 Call Handling solution to the city of Philadelphia," said Jeff Robertson, CEO of Airbus DS Communications. "With VESTA®, the city has made a smart investment in flexible technology that will allow its Calltakers to provide the best 9-1-1 service to their community today and for years to come."

The geodiverse VESTA 9-1-1 solution allows the city of Philadelphia to have a two-host system for total redundancy and confidence in providing 9-1-1 service. This means, should one system host be rendered inoperable, other host system automatically takes over to ensure 9-1-1 service is not interrupted. In addition, the new VESTA 9-1-1 solution is built for expansion so the City can easily add positions, as needed. Redundancy and flexibility were two critical aspects city officials considered in its timely move to a NG9-1-1 solution.

"We commend Philadelphia for its commitment to ensuring the safety and wellbeing of all who live in or visit the City of Brotherly Love," said Ken Shuler, Senior Regional Account Manager at Airbus DS Communications. "Adopting new technology in an environment as dynamic as a 9-1-1 call center is always challenging. The Philadelphia team came together to manage this transition seamlessly, executing one of the smoothest cutovers we have seen."