When Every Moment Matters: Managing Public Safety Networks

By Jeremy Ladner 4 min read

When every moment matters, and continuous communications are critical, public safety personnel and first responders count on Ceragon to deliver, manage, and maintain flawless wireless standardized and interoperable connectivity solutions. In this blog, we will explore how Ceragon's Managed Services helped restore and enhance a wireless public safety network, providing reliable communication capabilities for public safety personnel, including police and first responders.

A Network in Decline

Nearly a decade ago, a wireless public safety network was deployed to facilitate broadband communications during a large international event. It served as a crucial communication tool for security forces, national intelligence personnel, and undercover agents, ensuring the safety of over 11,000 participants from various countries. However, after years of neglect, the network started to show signs of wear and tear, impacting its performance and reliability.

The neglect of network maintenance, the need for expanded capacity, and geographic obstacles posed significant challenges for the police force responsible for managing the network. With limited resources and urgent network issues, operators and government officials had to consider their options carefully. Given Ceragon's role as the original manufacturer and vendor during the special event, they were a natural choice to provide a new Managed Services contract.

Restoring Full Network Capabilities

Upon being awarded the multi-year contract for network restoration and end-to-end Managed Services, Ceragon assembled a team of experts and swiftly deployed them to the site. Their primary objective was to assess and prioritize the required repairs to network elements and infrastructure. By restoring network stability, Ceragon laid the foundation for ongoing monitoring and maintenance through automated preventative and corrective service protocols.

Unlocking Potential

With network stability restored, Ceragon's onsite service team turned their attention toward the future of the network and transitioned responsibility for all monitoring, management, and maintenance oversite to Ceragon Managed Services cloud-based Network Operations Center (NOC).

Ceragon Managed Services provide public safety agencies of all sizes with the peace of mind that comes with an end-to-end 24/7 management solution. Ceragon Managed Services can act as either an alternative or extension to any public safety organization’s in-house network operations team, augmenting available resources.

With the Managed Services of the cloud-based Network Operations Center activated, monitoring, management, and maintenance of the network are delivered seamlessly oversite. This ensures optimal performance and uninterrupted communications for public safety personnel and emergency responders.

Ceragon Managed Services allow public safety network operators to avoid the cost and complexity associated with building and staffing their own onsite NOC. Ceragon’s end-to-end Managed Services provide public safety network operators with increased operational efficiency, faster issue detection, and proactive resolution of all alerts, alarms, and tickets through 24/7 monitoring and troubleshooting.

Ceragon's NOC staff utilize proprietary predictive and preventative network tools to swiftly address any potential disruptions to communications and connectivity that could impact the effectiveness of emergency response efforts.

With Ceragon's Managed Services team in place and the public safety agency’s confidence in the reliability of the network restored, additional improvements were made. Through the utilization of software-enabled licenses and feature updates, the network gained the capability to support high-demand applications essential to public safety, such as AI-assisted security automation and real-time video monitoring. These advancements empowered the public safety personnel with the tools needed to respond swiftly and effectively to emergencies, enhancing overall public safety efforts.

With all the vital repairs completed and comprehensive Managed Services, including 24/7 monitoring implemented, Ceragon is in discussions with the public safety agency to investigate ways to extend network coverage to local underserved areas.

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