World Focus
EUROPE
Finland paves the
way for Virve 2.0
Source: The Chancellery of the
Senate of the Republic of Poland
e president of Finland (pictured) has
con rmed an electronic communications
services law, now in force. It requires MNOs
to ensure the availability and quality of public
safety organisations’ critical communications,
even when networks are congested or the
primary network – which will be selected by a
commercial tender – is not available.
is year, State Security Networks Group
Finland (recently con rmed as the national
public safety operator of the Virve 2.0 mobile
broadband service) will ask for bids from
MNOs. e winning network will be expanded
and strengthened to meet public safety needs.
Virve, the Finnish nationwide critical
communications network, is gradually moving
to mobile broadband. e future Virve service,
Virve 2.0, will launch in 2022, though the
TETRA-based Virve network is expected to
continue until at least 2025.
Heathrow uses SITA
for network support
Heathrow in the UK has appointed airport
technology specialist SITA to provide support
to its communication network. is includes
more than 12,000 telephones, 150,000 LAN
connections, 1,900 radios and more than
3,500 WLAN access points across its campus.
According to Heathrow, the service
provided by SITA will also involve “emerging
automation and self-healing technologies”,
a solution covering both hardware and
con guration (software) issues. SITA claims
that this will automatically identify the root
cause of an issue or fault, using arti cial
intelligence technology. Once the root cause
of a fault has been identi ed, it will then
trigger automated resolution actions, driven
by pre-de ned responses to known events or
issues. SITA will also now be able to manage
the airport’s communications from anywhere
in the world.
DAMM unveils
Thostrup as CEO
DAMM Cellular Systems has appointed Jens
ostrup as its new CEO. e company
said ostrup has a proven track record in
a variety of senior management roles, most
recently at Airbus in France where he was
responsible for business development and
channel management. He also has more than
20 years of experience within critical radio
communications, primarily within the PMR/
LMR business.
Speaking of the appointment, Hans
Christian Jensen, chairman of the board
at DAMM, said: “Jens’ experience with
companies such as Airbus and Sepura make
him the ideal candidate for us.”
He added: “Not only does he have solid
industry knowledge, he also has many years
of valuable senior management experience.
We are con dent that he will be a major asset
to DAMM.”
January 2019 @CritCommsToday 7