TMCnet News
TCS to Provide E911 Capabilities to 8x8’s Packet8 SubscribersBy TED GLANZER
TMCnet Communications and Broadband Columnist
8x8, Inc. and TeleCommunication Systems, Inc. have entered into an agreement to provide roaming E911 services to 8x8’s broadband VoIP subscribers, the companies announced on Tuesday.
According to a statement, TCS’ VoIP E911 solution provides fixed, nomadic and mobile address validation tools, routing determination and boundary information for each Public Safety Answering Point in the United States to determine the correct PSAP.
With the TCS agreement, 8x8, Inc. edges closer to complying with the Federal Communications Commission’s order requiring PSTN-interconnected VoIP service providers to make nomadic E911 available to all of their subscribers by Nov. 29. Founded in 1987, TCS has spent eight years assisting carriers in deploying Phase's I and II of the wireless E911 service as required by the FCC. Currently, TCS provides E911 service to more than 50 million subscribers in the United States for more than 27 wireless carriers.
TCS’ extensive experience in the wireless E911 realm was a major reason why 8x8, Inc. chose the Annapolis, Md.-based company.
“We selected TCS because of its years of demonstrated expertise in wireless E911,” said 8x8 CEO Bryan Martin in a statement. “This selection will provide Packet8 subscribers with access to the most advanced E911 technologies available. Our subscribers can expect to receive the same response to a 911 call placed on their Packet8 service as calls made from a PSTN line, no matter where their emergency calls are placed in the U.S.”
While many VoIP service providers are struggling to meet the FCC’s Nov. 29 deadline, TCS Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer Tim Lorello told TMCnet recently that the E911 order should be embraced by the VoIP industry.
“VoIP is now a mainstream technology,” Lorello said in a recent telephone interview. “So you’ve got to do all of the things that mainstream technologies do.”
Additionally, Lorello said that the “evangelists” who are opposed to having VoIP subject to any regulatory oversight could actually retard the technology’s growth.
Indeed, E911 is a life-saving service that consumers have come to expect. Furthermore, according to Lorello, providing E911 will ultimately spur the development of location usage services such as information alerts, billing and optimized routing.
Be sure to catch the debut of the Service Provider Summit at this fall’s INTERNET TELEPHONY Conference & Expo, which runs October 24-27, at the Los Angeles Convention Center, focusing on key issues number portability, ENUM, QoS, next-generation OSS and much more.
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Ted Glanzer is assistant editor for TMCnet. For more articles by Ted Glanzer, please visit:
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