DELIVERING FUTURE INNOVATION, TODAY.
Municipalities are facing increasing public safety emergencies every day and need to keep their citizens safe – threats such as violence, social unrest, public health emergencies, and more are, unfortunately, the reality. Cincinnati, like many cities worldwide, is making strategic moves now to address these challenges head-on.
Behind every public safety organization and its first responders must be a rock-solid network infrastructure in place to serve as the backbone and conduit for lifesaving, mission-critical communications. Unfortunately, many agencies today – Cincinnati included – are discovering problems with their aging networks. And if first responders cannot reliably communicate during an emergency, they cannot effectively respond to the crisis at hand.
FAILURE IS NOT AN OPTION
In addition to connectivity problems for city personnel, an aging network infrastructure often means that equipment and parts are being discontinued. Cincinnati administrators became aware that their existing network was reaching its end of life. If even one legacy radio goes down, this could leave the entire system compromised and vulnerable to unknown periods of downtime and system outages. And when it comes to keeping the public safe, being offline and unavailable is not an option.
THE FUTURE REQUIRES (MORE) BANDWIDTH
Traditionally, land mobile radio (LMR) technology has provided simple push-to-talk, two-way communication, enabling first responders with access to safe and secure communication channels. And for many years, that was enough.
Today, however, as municipalities explore options for upgrading the backbone to support their LMR systems, they are also seeing a need for more advanced options and next-gen smart assets in the field. Rather than simply satisfying the network's demands today, our solutions go much further into tomorrow.
Likewise, Cincinnati’s system administrators were initially primarily concerned with shoring up and securing their network to support their LMR system. But when introduced to Ceragon’s network modernization proposal, which offered the capacity, reliability, security, and flexibility they needed today but also accounted for capacity spikes needed far into the future, they were decidedly on board.
AN END-TO-END STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP
For any partnership to work, there must be trust and cooperation. The Ceragon team approaches every customer and every challenge with a “can-do” attitude and an “outside-the-box” approach.
The City of Cincinnati had a challenge that needed solving. Some companies would propose selling them the radios needed and moving along to the next sale. Not Ceragon.
We are providing the following to the City of Cincinnati as it grows and the project develops a true end-to-end network solution with multiple services and support functions.
- ADVISORY CONSULTING
Project management and, training & certification - ASSESSMENT & PLANNING
Full network planning & design, wireless link design, and site infrastructure management - DEPLOYMENT
Network rollout, automatic link configuration, remote configuration & commissioning support, migration & modernization, and software enhancements & upgrades - MAINTENANCE
Multi-year maintenance program to ensure the ongoing optimal operation of the network
OUR SOLUTION
The Ceragon solution developed for the City of Cincinnati is based on the mature and field-proven IP-20 platform. This all-indoor solution will comply with the requested build-out of the new microwave ring, while keeping the existing network in operation as the new one is being deployed. Importantly, the solution protects one of the most valuable resources the city owns – its microwave spectrum. Our solution will repurpose the city’s current spectrum and assets such as antennas, while also significantly increasing capacity to support future technologies.
CONCLUSIONS
From initial RFP responses to network rollouts, ongoing monitoring, and even NOC services, Ceragon is here to support municipalities as they strive to keep their citizens safe. Without a well-thought-out, strategically developed communications network in place, cities can quickly become vulnerable to a multitude of threats. As we did for the City of Cincinnati, municipalities around the world can count on us to roll up our sleeves, think strategically, and propose a true, future-proof solution that is custom to their needs.
Interested in learning more?
