FirstNet takes core network, devices, apps for a test run at Boston Marathon

At this year's Boston Marathon, fire, police and incident response teams from Boston and Brookline, Mass., tested a variety of devices and applications connected to FirstNet's dedicated core network. FirstNet, the nationwide public safety broadband network in the US, announced the availability of its core network on March 27 and has since made FirstNet ready devices and applications available to responders. First responders participating in the demonstration used FirstNet-ready devices with push-to-talk and land mobile radio integration applications. Thirty of the phones were outfitted with SIM cards and connected to the dedicated FirstNet Core.

The dual-use application was easy for responders to learn, according to Scott Wilder, the director of technology and communications for the Brookline Police Department. Responders could set up smaller groups where just fire fighters talked, for example, which kept the channel from getting congested with chatter that not everyone needed to hear, Wilder explained in a video.

https://gcn.com/articles/2018/05/02/firstnet-boston-marathon.aspx