TETRA  |  2014-09-19

ETSI organizes "In Case of Emergency"- a Summit on Critical Communications

Source: MCCResources

The 2014 Summit will examine critical communications from different perspectives. ETSI will look at the public policies at stake, the opinion of professional users, the cost/benefit analysis, and technology and standardization challenges.

Luis Jorge Romero Saro -ETSI Director-General - invites its members to the 2014 edition of the ETSI Summit. In Case of Emergency...An ETSI Summit on Critical Communications will take place on 20 November 2014 at the ETSI headquarters in Sophia Antipolis, France, immediately following the 64th ETSI General Assembly.

The annual ETSI Summit explores issues of strategic significance to ETSI. The subjects discussed are, or will become the hot topics for most of ETSI’s members. Adding a unique standards perspective not found in other industry events, the ETSI Summit confirms ETSI as a thought-leader in the ICT industry.

The ETSI has established itself as a key standardization body for critical and emergency communications technologies and TETRA radio systems are now sold throughout the world. ETSI has numerous ongoing standards activities related to emergency call technologies for use in Europe and their Public Safety standardization ranges from maritime personal emergency locater beacons to public warning systems.

However, accoding to ETSI, their work in this field has now entered a new phase. Solutions which are uniquely European are no longer required. The global 4G communication standard, LTE, developed by 3GPP, is now being considered for use alongside TETRA to provide broadband service to first responders. Public warning systems are being developed in each region of the world, and the best feedback of experience in their use comes from outside Europe. ETSI is now analyzing how to correctly locate those who place emergency calls on VoIP systems – when these systems may not be managed or located in Europe. 

The 2014 Summit will examine critical communications from different perspectives. ETSI will look at the public policies at stake, the opinion of professional users, the cost/benefit analysis, and technology and standardization challenges. Each perspective will be presented, and then debated with the audience. The debate will be interactive and stimulating and will quickly focus on the key issues.