APCO's Emerging Technology Forum wrapped up after two full days of presentations from leading public safety and technology experts before an audience from the Pittsburgh area and across the country.
The Forum began with a presentation on APCO’s vision for NG9-1-1 from APCO’s Chief Technology Officer Jay English and Chief Counsel Jeff Cohen. Day one continued with a “9-1-1 Practitioners Perspectives” panel featuring five 9-1-1 directors from across Pennsylvania. They discussed the current state of 9-1-1 in Pennsylvania, lessons learned from initial NG9-1-1 deployments and the outlook for future innovation and inter-county cooperation for emergency communications in the state. The rest of the day featured presentations on improvements for 9-1-1 location accuracy, preventing contraband cellphone use in prisons, funding for NG9-1-1 and an update on FirstNet’s progress.
Day two began with Matt Brown, Chief of the Allegheny County (PA) Department of Emergency Services, who provided a local perspective on the transition to NG9-1-1 and described the development of the county’s new state-of-the-art emergency communications center. The second day continued with presentations on cybersecurity risks and mitigation techniques, how the Internet of Things (IoT) will impact 9-1-1, improvements to public alerts, trends in public safety spectrum in the 4.9 GHz and 6 GHz bands and regulatory and legislative developments impacting public safety communications.
The Forum was another opportunity for attendees to learn about cutting edge issues and network with other industry experts and public safety communications professionals. With major drivers of broadband capabilities such as FirstNet and NG9-1-1 quickly progressing, being knowledgeable of the latest issues has never been more important.
Continuing Education Credits
If you attended the Forum, you should have received a separate email with information on obtaining your CEU certificates.
Thank you to all our sponsors, speakers and attendees for making this event a success!
