The event, held February 11-14, offers private and public agencies the opportunity to test the latest broadband solutions while operators get the chance to explore new markets.
“Our objective in Barcelona is two-fold,” says Anders Linder, head of Sales & Marketing, Ericsson NSPS. “One is to show operators how our latest offerings can open new opportunities for them, and the other is to meet government customers and inform them of our solutions.”
Ericsson will feature such 3G technologies as QuicLINK, which, in disaster situations where all communications have broken down, delivers the highest quality voice and image transmissions. Customized turnkey solutions such as Professional Communication over Cellular, and Border and Area Security will also be showcased.
Staffan Svensson, NSPS head, says Ericsson NSPS solutions enable government agencies to focus on core operations and make full use of their public safety resources.
“The benefits to public safety and security are considerable in terms of enhanced preparedness and quicker response,” he says. “Higher data speed and availability of multimedia applications will greatly improve national security and public safety operations.”
Svensson notes that while government agencies have a tradition of using their own networks, Ericsson is taking steps to help them make the transition to mobile broadband.
“We’re looking into interoperability with legacy systems and are adding applications such as end-to-end (e2e) encryption,” he says. “It is not just about technology but the new services they can build on these networks. We are also working with handset suppliers so we can offer e2e solutions.”
Growing market
Linder says the addressable market for these types of services is growing rapidly. “There is a shift from the old, proprietary technology towards systems with open standards because that is the only way to get affordable mobile broadband,” he says. “Proprietary technology is a dead-end.”
The primary target users are government operations and other emergency services. Transport companies are also prospective clients.
“It is difficult to estimate the size of the market because you can define it in so many ways,” Linder says. “One example is in Germany where there are plans to build a police radio network at an estimated cost of about EUR 4.5 billion.”
The addressable market cuts across the globe, although the US is a key market. Events such as 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina – which exposed poor communication links between government agencies – have also sparked a trend in the US towards dedicating networks to public safety organizations.
“There are about 50 to 100 million users globally,” Svensson says. “These figures are bound to increase as security and public safety get more attention.”
