Green Light for Midlife Upgrade of Nationwide Tetrapol Network in Switzerland
To continue the operation of their mission-critical radio network, the parliament in Switzerland approved the budget for the modernisation of Polycom.
This nationwide radio communications network has been deployed by Airbus via its Swiss partner Atos. The Council of States (Ständerat) in Switzerland, the upper house of the Swiss parliament, took the final political decision and gave the green light for financing the pending Polycom renewal.
Switzerland’s project ‘Werterhalt Polycom 2030’ (maintaining Polycom values 2030) intends to ensure a sustainable radio network based on Tetrapol technology. Step by step, the system will be modernised from the existing time-division multiplexing (TDM) technology to the modern Internet Protocol (IP). IP technology will bring important benefits, such as capacity increases, lifetime extensions, additional users and a higher number of subscribers.
Airbus and Atos, as the general contractor for Switzerland, have worked together since Polycom’s roll-out in 2000. The current network operates with 40 main switches, 110 secondary switches and over 750 base stations. Polycom currently serves 55,000 users, including cantonal and federal police forces, firefighters, rescue workers, public protection personnel, border guards and the army.
In addition to Switzerland, the Czech Republic, France, Mexico, Slovakia and Spain have also established nationwide public safety networks based on Tetrapol technology from Airbus.
