Start-up offering E911-for-VoIP answer

A start-up company with a patented solution to the voice-over-IP E911 problem is peddling its technology to the telecom industry, hoping to see it come to market quickly.

IP911 Resource, made up of three technology veterans, earned its final approval from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office four weeks after the Federal Communications Commission’s decision mandating E911 support by VoIP providers. The partners now hope to license or sell the technology to a major telecom equipment player.

The IP911 solution draws on integrating off-the-shelf systems in a unique way, said Mike Smith, managing partner.

“Our software is monitoring the device--and the device can be a laptop that is providing VoIP, it can be an IP phone, it can be one of those buttons around your neck for emergency signals,” Smith said. “We are monitoring the device for an emergency signal.”

When the E911 signal is detected, an embedded global positioning satellite chip generates the latitude, longitude and altitude of the distress signal, which triggers a database lookup that correlates location with the nearest emergency calling point, whether a public safety access point or a local police station.

By including GPS tracking, the IP911 technology addresses the challenges VoIP service providers face when their users travel and take their VoIP service with them.

“Since this is so urgent, we thought it best to sell or license to a major organization,” Smith said. “We have had contact with several.”

Level 3 Communications this week announced its nomadic VoIP strategy, with a goal of getting it up and running by late 2005.