Softil Joins PSTA to Help Drive Interoperability of Next Generation First Responder Tools

Mission-critical communications (MCC) enabler Softil today announces that it is joining the Public Safety Technology Alliance (PSTA) as a Platinum member to assist in the identification and selection of best in class standards for the next generation of first responder tools.

“A new wave of mission-critical communication over LTE technology tools is coming to market for first responders and it is essential they are all based on open standards and open standard APIs to ensure seamless deployment of applications, services, platforms, and devices to enable public safety with consensus-driven, standardized, innovative solutions to improve operations and make emergency response safer for the community and those who serve,” says TJ Kennedy, CEO, PSTA. “Softil’s expertise and long history in steering the adoption of best-in-breed specifications across the IP communications industry will greatly benefit the work of PSTA’s technical subcommittees.”

MCC over LTE technology represents a paradigm shift for first responder operations. Compared with traditional basic radios, it puts into their hands for the first time advanced, state-of-the-art communication capabilities such as video sharing, ability to track teams and objects on a real-time map, and to interact and control robots and drones.

Most importantly, MCC over LTE technology joins up and unifies emergency operations of law enforcement, fire and EMS. To operate seamlessly, the technology demands the strictest adherence to open standards and field-proven interoperability for all components of mission critical system deployments – the areas of major focus and influence of the PSTA.

“The adoption of open standards for the vast array of next generation MCC tools is paramount to ensure their interoperability, increase choice to public agencies and drive down costs,” adds Sagi Subocki, Softil Vice President, Products and Marketing. “By joining the PSTA, Softil can work with member companies and public safety agencies to help bring this about.”

The PSTA is a non-profit organization with a mission of fostering, identifying and promoting specific open, best in class, standards-based technology for the public safety user community. The PSTA’s mission is to accelerate the conformance of open and standards compliant technology, select those standards that will offer public safety a safe, secure and interoperable framework for the next generation of communications tools, and provide helpful guidance to industry for the implementation and testing of technical specifications for applications, handsets, connected devices, and cloud applications and storage that will be used by the first responder community, specifically to ensure public safety can choose the best tools and know that they will all work together seamlessly.