The urgent need for a Global Critical Alliance

As global mobile communications technology moves forward at a frightening speed, it is becoming harder & harder to justify the cost of dedicated public safety networks. Learn more on the view of Peter Clemons in this Blog.

Traditionally, public safety & emergency services have relied upon their own separate, dedicated communications networks to coordinate their activities; connecting to other professionals & the general public via complex (or not-so-complex!) control rooms & dispatch centres. The reasons for specialised networks & services are too many to describe here in a brief Blog & I have written extensively about such topics in many other articles over the years.

However, as global mobile communications technology moves forward at a frightening speed (as I observed at last week's Mobile World Congress in Barcelona), it is becoming harder & harder to justify the cost of dedicated public safety networks & develop the next generation(s) of specialised equipment & functionality that emergency services have relied on for decades. New models are required to allow critical communications users such as public safety to access a wider range of modern communications tools in order to carry out their vital jobs for society in a secure environment.

I set up Quixoticity back in 2012 to study & advise on this specific challenge. Some early thoughts on the subject can be found in a presentation I gave at (Radio)Comms Connect 2012 held in Melbourne, Australia on "Developing winning strategies for critical communications in a time of rapid technological change":

At the same event the following year (Comms Connect 2013), I set out the case for caution surrounding the initial hype around Smart Cities in a presentation entitled: "Safer cities will be smarter cities", highlighting the fact that many early deployments did not take privacy & security issues seriously enough, & calling for a united effort by the industry to develop a fully functional, next-generation solution for public safety & critical communications by the end of the decade (2019), comparing the global effort required with JF Kennedy's moon-shot during the 1960s:

During the 4 years since I set up Quixoticity, the global critical communications industry has taken great strides forward, with organisations such as NIST/NPSTC & TCCA participating in 3GPP Release 12 (LTE Advanced) together with potential users & operators such as UK Home Office, French MoI, FirstNet etc. to begin the important work on Group Calls & Direct Mode operations.

Under pressure from the critical communications community, 3GPP set up a special new group - SA6 - to continue this important work through Release 13 - especially MCPTT (Mission-Critical Push-To-Talk) - and future Releases. LTE-Advanced Pro now considers public safety a key user group & early 5G visions clearly specify public safety as an essential part of the 5G Era.

At last year's eLTE Industry Summit held in Barcelona, I explained the continued importance of critical communications & suggested possible future paths that our industry might take to maintain its relevance in an increasingly complex, data-driven world:

All the main global mobile infrastructure players involved in LTE-AP & future 5G R&D such as Ericsson, Huawei, Samsung & Nokia as well as other highly respected global brands such as Qualcomm, LG Electronics, ZTE and many more have joined the traditional public safety vendors such as Motorola Solutions, Harris PSPC, Airbus DS, Sepura Group etc. to advise & participate in early public safety LTE processes such as First Net, UK ESN, Korea's SafeNet & a growing number of Governments and organisations looking at deploying standards-based LTE networks for their mission-critical operations as soon as viable solutions become available.

Quixoticity is a long -standing member of the 160-member strong TETRA + Critical Communications Association (TCCA), set up back in 1994 to promote the TETRA standard & now actively involved in developing public safety LTE via its Critical Communications Broadband Group (CCBG). We have also just joined the 75-member strong eLTE Industry Alliance http://www.lte-applications.com/28517/ because we believe that it is important to bring together as many of the global players developing future solutions for critical communications as possible & keep a channel open for these players to coordinate their actions when necessary for the greater good.

2016 is a critical year for our industry. Narrowband digital PMR solutions such as TETRA continue to grab the headlines with high-profile contract awards in new markets http://www.mccmag.com/News/NewsDetails/NewsID/13991 and such solutions will continue to sell well for many years to come. Existing solutions must be protected & enhanced, as well as being integrated with emerging broadband solutions where possible.

3GPP Release 13 incorporates much of the functionality required by mission-critical end-users, but work must continue in future releases to make sure that these users & the general public are kept safe in Safer & Smarter Cities increasingly powered by decentralised, highly intelligent, receptive & available networks that will drive exciting new societies & economies & not be allowed to fail. Spectrum allocation will remain a key activity for our industry for the foreseeable future.

The new (5G) society & economy must be based on truly global standards driving local communities all the way to the edge of the network in the remotest & formerly inaccessible locations. Competing visions & competing ecosystems must all work together to deliver this vision. Critical communications must take its place at the core of these networks as they are sliced & diced to cater for all users, old & new.

It is for this reason that, eventually, all competing organisations & enterprises developing critical services & applications will need to guarantee a minimum level of interoperability, interworking & commonality of purpose & overall goals.

It is for this reason that there is an urgent need for a Global Critical Alliance. Quixoticity's fundamental goal is to make sure that all critical communications users - everywhere & at all times - have access to the very best tools required to carry out their missions for the benefit of the wider society. We accept that it may take some time to achieve our goal, but we do not give up easily & we will not rest until the vision becomes a reality.

Quixoticity's ideas continue to evolve, but 2016 must be the year when critical communications starts its long journey to a better place, preserving everything that is essential from our past, while incorporating the new functionality demanded by our users, safely, securely & resolutely. In an increasingly complex, global world, only a global framework & vision can achieve this.

I will be in touch shortly.