Critical communication devices are the lifeline of police officers, firefighters and ambulance staff. Frontline practitioners need to respond to a high number of occurrences daily and keep in touch with colleagues in the field, call dispatchers in the command room and support vehicles, handling stressful situations with unpredictable outcomes.
For occurrences to be attended to swiftly, communication cannot fail, so the reliability of Mission Critical (MC) devices remains a major concern for decision-makers procuring such technologies across the emergency sector.
It is easy to see why when looking at the scale of the issue. According to the Home office, 300,000 emergency service users depend on the Emergency Services Network (ESN) – the future 4G network replacing the TETRA based Airwave system used now for decades – which also involves communicating with 45,000 vehicles, 66 aircraft and 100 control rooms across the country.
However, with multiple delays to the full roll-out of the ESN, there are major concerns from emergency services staff regarding how reliable the new dedicated LTE network will be. Therefore, finding the right next generation of MC devices is a vital task.
This discussion is only going to intensify as first responders have their existing TETRA radios phased out once the new network is fully up and running, with a new generation of LTE connected devices needing to be procured. As a result, GlobalData Public Sector is preparing a comprehensive report looking at current and future devices used by emergency services across the UK.
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To achieve this, we would like to hear your opinion on existing devices, how they are used and ideas for what the next generation might look like. We are keen to speak to anyone familiar with the ESN and the MC communication devices used on the front line, especially anyone involved in influencing, identifying and or selecting which types of devices will be used in the future. This will help technology suppliers to identify key features, pain points and how the ESN is being perceived by the emergency services so they can offer the right products in the future.
It is important to note that all related inputs will be anonymised, and GlobalData is happy to share the final report with the emergency services practitioners willing to participate. We will also be willing to make a charitable donation on behalf of participating individuals to a charity associated with your organisation.
Please get in touch if you have any questions or if you are willing to contribute to this report. You can either leave your details via this link or get in touch with the team at GlobalData that are running this research project. You can email:
Robert Stoneman, Service Director, UK Public Sector at GlobalData (robert.stoneman@globaldata.com)
Leonardo Freitas, Principal Analyst. Police and Blue Light, Public Sector at GlobalData (Leonardo.freitas@globaldata.com)
