Staying online and in communication is important to every organization, but it can be a matter of life and death for fire and rescue services. Read on to learn how MicroAge recently supported a private American fire department with high availability radio communications when they’re needed most.
A west coast leader in private fire protection services was ready to build a high availability internet strategy to support their communities and the organization’s rapid growth. The rescue agency had approximately eight towers throughout their greater metropolitan area and needed a way to route traffic. They also wanted a failover service to avoid being impacted by an outage.
MicroAge’s Joseph Baca recently had an opportunity to support the client’s IT director in providing a faster internet connection, guaranteeing them high availability radio communications. He knew they would need the highest level of mission critical equipment to support local communities and a 4G LTE connection.
Because of the crucial need for uninterrupted communications, the emergency department needed voice trafficked the correct way in the event of a failover.
“They recognized the need to route the traffic between all different points and manage it all on the cloud,” Joseph notes. “Security is involved here; the fire department knew they needed a high availability internet connection to ensure radio communications will always be up.”
After going on site, Joseph helped them identify several goals for the initial project, including setting up an internet connection for eight to ten of the fire department’s local sites using 4G (fourth generation wireless) capabilities. The fire department was using a fixed-wireless microwave internet connection, delivered by a high capacity microwave radio link. However, microwave signals aren’t without complications and since the Wi-Fi operates at 2.4GHz like a microwave oven, radiation leaks can result in electromagnetic or radio-frequency (RF) interference.
The first deployment was completed in about 90 days using an IBR900 Cradlepoint wireless modem and Verizon to prevent failure or outages.
“Most people think of Verizon as a company only targeted at consumers, but that’s not the case,” Joseph explains. “Verizon helps businesses stay online all the time.”
With the latest upgrade, the emergency services provider can rest assured that they can stay online with a faster connection and without any internet outages in the way of supporting their local community. The organization plans to complete deployments across all locations to ensure communications and Wi-Fi signals remain uninterrupted.
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Cloud-based services like this high availability radio communications solution is just one example of the IT projects we’re ready to help with. Email our solutions team to set up a meeting and learn how we can tackle your challenges.
