Comms Connect to highlight NZ's Cellular Network Visibility Service

The 19th edition of Comms Connect Melbourne, being held at MCEC on 15–16 October, will feature a presentation highlighting the newly launched Cellular Network Visibility Service (NVS) — a digital tool to help emergency responders stay connected and informed — for New Zealand’s Public Safety Network (PSN).

NVS provides a real-time map of mobile coverage, outages and planned works across Spark, One NZ and Rural Connectivity Group infrastructure. Built on the ArcGIS platform, it integrates geospatial tools with live data to give emergency services unprecedented visibility of their communication environment.

The service has only just been officially launched, but was in the testing phase when Cyclone Tam hit New Zealand’s North Island back in April — wreaking havoc on cellular infrastructure and, with it, the ability for Fire and Emergency New Zealand to alert and mobilise volunteers through its Availability & Messaging System. With both the Auckland Regional Coordination Centre (RCC) and National Coordination Centre (NCC) asking for updates on the status of the One NZ and Spark networks, NVS provided clear visual information without the need to contact these companies directly.

“It gave me the ability to provide coverage maps for the RCC and NCC so they could see what was down and what wasn’t, meaning we had information on demand,” said Craig Bedford, Telecommunications Manager at Fire and Emergency.

The NVS app is initially being released to radio telecommunication specialists, although features of the service have been made available in the newly launched Common Operating Platform and there are plans for access to be expanded to more personnel in coordination centres during emergency events. It could also soon support proactive planning, including the deployment of portable cell sites in vulnerable areas.

“It’s another tool in the kit that gives us real-time information that we used to get slowly and manually, allowing us to act on it faster,” Bedford said.

‘New Zealand’s new Cellular Network Visibility Service — boosting emergency services capabilities’ will be presented on 16 October by Sam Newton, Enterprise Architect at Hourua, and Steve Lawrence, who was appointed Chief Technical Director of Next Generation Critical Communications (NGCC) back in July. He joined NGCC following five years at Spark, and was responsible for Spark’s contribution to the PSN’s Cellular Roaming and Priority services alongside One NZ.

See the full conference program and register now to secure early-bird savings at melbourne.comms-connect.com.au.

Image credit: iStock.com/Lakeview_Images