Harris bridging public and private push-to-talk networks

Though essentially the same service, push-to-talk and land mobile radio (LMR) communications have always occupied separate commercial and private spheres. But Harris Corp. (NYSE:HRS) is attempting to merge the two, announcing a new IP radio architecture that extends emergency, government and enterprise radio communications to any mobile broadband network.

Harris today unveiled BeOn, a client-server-based solution that allows operators to link private LMR networks to their 3G and 4G networks using IP peering technology. Using the platform, a public safety agency or an enterprise could duplicate the central dispatch and group talk capabilities of their LMR networks on a smartphone, which could feasibly work anywhere in the world not within the local radio network, said John Vaughan, senior vice president of global marketing and business development for Harris’s public safety and professional communications business unit.

BeOn could exist as a stand-alone service, and an enterprise or agency without a LMR system could chose to deploy it that way. The BeOn server, located within the enterprise or hosted by an operator, is network agnostic, meaning it could extend push-to-talk across different phones and operators within and even outside of a country, creating what amounts to global LMR network, Vaughan said. But he added he doesn’t expect private networks to disappear.

“When a trooper is on patrol, he needs a real radio,” Vaughan said. “It’s very difficult to replace that kind of hardened radio network with an unhardened commercial network.”

LMR systems, in many cases, have been designed to provide coverage in far off corners commercial networks don’t reach; it’s user equipment has been built to handle the most rugged treatment; and the towers and infrastructure weatherized and reinforced to survive hurricane and gale-force conditions, Vaughan said. That kind of reliability can’t be replaced with off-the-shelf smartphones and data networks centered on areas of high commercial use.

But what Vaughan does expect is for agencies and enterprises to use BeOn to augment their current LMR systems. For example, a municipality could use BeOn to extend access to the radio communications to all of its employees, allowing non-field workers to tap into the grid using their phones rather than issuing them radios. Law enforcement officials could use their phones to stay linked to their colleagues and dispatch when they’re called out of their immediate jurisdiction. Enterprises with global operations could keep their employees on network when they cross over borders, Vaughan said.

As an all IP service, BeOn would be dependent on 3G and 4G networks to supply the bandwidth and quality of service necessary for a radio network. Since BeOn doesn’t use session initiation protocol (SIP), connection speeds are much faster, approximating those of industry standard Nextel’s, Vaughan said.

Though geared to work to on a commercial operator’s network, the service can also be extended to private 3G and 4G networks. Many public safety agencies in the US have gotten permission to deploy broadband wireless systems in the 700 MHz bands next to commercial frequencies. A coalition of Bay Area agencies announced last week it is launching the first LTE network in the band using Motorola (NYSE:MOT) gear, using the 4G system as a mobile broadband overlay of its Project 25 LMR network.

Harris itself is expanding into the 4G market, announcing today at APCO International it is teaming up with Nokia Siemens Networks (NYSE:NOK, NYSE:SI) to build LTE systems interlinked with its Voice, Interoperability, Data, and Access (VIDA) IP LMR systems. EADS Defense and Security struck a similar deal with Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE:ALU) in April.