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What if every responder — Police, FIRE, EMS, even that guy from road maintenance — could easily talk during emergencies, like they were on the same communications infrastructure? But when things are everyday, they are all separated into their own communities of interest. NG911 can make that possible. Spoiler alert: it’s not magic, it’s just something called IMS, and the chances are that you’re already using it.
Today, we’ll be talking about how NG911 enables true emergency communications interoperability (EComms InterOp) by highlighting some proven concepts from commercial IP networks and the early days of the internet. Plus, we’ll be sprinkling in some Next Gen 911 magic, and giving public safety a seat at the grown-ups’ tech table.
NewsFlash: NG911 Has Been in Development for 25+ Years
We often discuss NG911 as a new technology — but it isn’t. In fact, it’s been “coming soon” longer than some of today’s new recruits have been alive. While we’ve been sketching diagrams, writing standards, and holding conferences for the past quarter-century, the commercial world has been busy actually deploying IP-based communications that people use every day, from IP Telephony to FaceTime, Zoom, and Teams. All of this has been ‘sipping’ from the SIP fountain to deliver modern communications.
Meanwhile, Commercial Networks Took Off
While NG911 was navigating standards meetings, the commercial world was sprinting ahead. Businesses figured out how to build networks that carried not just voice, but video, images, and all the “please mute yourself” chaos of conferencing. This isn’t by ANY MEANS a failure of public safety — it’s just that they have to move slower, and for good reasons: security, reliability, and the fact that “oops” isn’t an option when someone’s house is on fire.
IMS: The OG Behind NG911
IMS — Internet Multimedia Subsystem — was SIP, the Session Initiation Protocol, rolling in as the shiny new thing carriers were banking on. Its a big trick? Splitting a call into two very different jobs: the brains (signaling) and the brawn (media), and together, they were the ‘session’.
In public safety terms, signaling is akin to your dispatcher — setting everything up, assigning units, and directing everyone to their designated locations. The media is the actual responder on scene — lights, sirens, hoses, or tourniquets. Without signaling, nobody shows up. Without media, everybody just sits around the station talking about how they would have saved the day. IMS kept both sides in their lanes, so the plan and the action finally worked together.
And here’s the kicker: IMS is essentially the skeleton that NG911 has been wrapping muscle around for more than two decades. You know, ESRPs, LVFs, LIS — these alphabet-soup acronyms we love so much? All children of the IMS idea. Although some view them as Children of the Corn.
Centralized Conferencing: From Point-to-Point to Everyone-to-Everyone
In the old world, calls were one-to-one. In the NG911 world, individual sessions get anchored in something that looks suspiciously like your company’s “all-hands” Zoom call. Everyone joins the same “bridge,” whether by phone, video, radio, or smoke signal (okay, not that last one… yet). Each participant decides their own experience, but nobody else loses out on anything they can consume.
Turning Chaos Into Collaboration
This is where the brilliance shines through: because of this architecture, different and incompatible communication types can actually communicate with each other. Like radios on 800 MHz, VHF, P25, or LTE, all get pulled into the same conference environment through an IP Feed or a ‘donor radio’. Suddenly, your medic’s handheld, your dispatcher’s desktop, and the school’s two-way radios are all in the same audio conference and able to communicate with each other. Think about that for a second. When you’re on a Zoom call with others, do you care what type of device they’re using? No. If they’re on a device with the camera, you see them. If they’re dialed in on a landline, you get a blank slate with their name on it. Disparate technologies, communicating together, through an open protocol, called SIP, and based on the IMS architecture. Hopefully, that gives you a greater appreciation for open, interoperable standards.
Let’s Use a Railroad Example (Because Trains are Fun)
Picture this:
- A car gets stuck at a railroad crossing.
- Local police need to respond.
- The rail company controlling train traffic needs to know.
- Any locomotive crew or rolling stock owners need to coordinate.
- If there’s an accident, EMS, fire, hazmat, and maybe even FRA investigators show up.
- Oh, and road maintenance crews might need to repair the crossing afterward.
That’s a lot of agencies that generally live in their own little communication islands. NG911 + IMS? Boom — everyone joins the same incident “bridge.” Instant communication and coordination. The train stops before impact, hazmat concerns are addressed, train consist data is delivered to those who need it (new guidelines are in place for this), and everyone goes home without needing a translator for “railroad dispatch speak.”
High Impact, Low Frequency, High Stakes
Railroad accidents are a prime example of what we in public safety refer to as “high-impact, low-frequency” events. They don’t happen every day, but when they do, you better believe they’re messy. That’s precisely where NG911 shines: taking the “once in a blue moon” chaos and giving responders a plug-and-play communications tool set.
What’s Next?
Now that NG911 networks are finally standing up in the real world, the next question is: who gets invited to the party, and how do we manage all those invitations? That’s going to be the fun part — defining what connectivity looks like and who plays what role. I’ve got some ideas brewing on that (hint: some players are already in the market, they just don’t know what jersey they’re about to be handed). That’s a future podcast and blog post. So, stay tuned.
NG911 isn’t just about replacing copper trunks with fiber. It’s about finally making true emergency communications interoperability a reality. From law to medics, railroads to regulators, everyone needs and gets a voice (literally). And the best part? We’re just at the start of seeing the coolest stuff roll out – so get ready to be amazed!
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