The big ah-ha

Progress is good, mostly, but sometimes it just creates more work. Unfortunately for some folks — in this case, the FCC — that work is just going to have to get done. The case in point is V911, or E911 for Internet telephony and voice-over-IP — that technical bug-a-boo that defies a simple solution. Intrado and its location technology partners made great progress last week by completing a successful trial in New York City in which it was able to locate a mobile VoIP 911 caller and deliver proper and useful information to the local PSAP using various location technologies and its V911 services platform. That's good, no? Well, it's great news for the technologists who participated, some of whom are pinning their futures on finding a suitable solution. However, as Intrado co-founder and Chief Technology Officer Stephen Meer said, “The big ‘ah ha’ remains that there is not a one-size-fits-all solution.”

There will be no quick and dirty fixes to which the FCC could require all manner of service provider to adhere. The commission is going to have to get very creative to devise some requirements that everyone can implement. Realities may have to be acknowledged concerning the possibility that E911 for these users may be less than 100% and that the cost to try to make it otherwise could be beyond reason. It also must be acknowledged that companies like Intrado and others are making the technology pretty darn good, especially in “tall building and urban canyon environments of places like New York,” Meer said.

Some might think that five years after 9-11, more progress on emergency services technology would have been made. But that would only be the folks who legislate solutions, not create them. Even Meer, delighted as he was to have progressed to this point, said that given the work to be done to scale any of these solutions, the industry was still a fair ways away from broad deployment. It would, however, open the doors to discussion on regulatory matters.