Welcome
JUNE 2019
Malaysia’s
meeting of minds
Critical Communications Today editor Sam Fenwick
discusses many of the themes that will be covered at this
year’s Critical Communications World (CCW) and that are
also featured in this issue
If you’re lucky to be reading this while at CCW in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (and
especially if you’re new to the region), do check out our article on Southeast Asia
on page 10, which will get you rapidly up to speed on recent developments,
while also giving you a rm grounding in the origins of Malaysia’s nationwide
TETRA network and the current thinking of its operator when it comes to its
transition to mission-critical broadband.
For me, one of the highlights of CCW is the opportunity to hear from public safety
network operators about their current challenges and priorities – Simon Creasey’s
piece on page 14 serves as an excellent way to whet your appetite in this regard.
One country which has ample incentive to press ahead with its push for missioncritical
broadband is France, given its need to enhance interoperability between
its public safety agencies in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo attack, move away
from Tetrapol and roll out the latest
technology in time for both the
France needs
Olympic Games and the Paralympic
to enhance
Games in 2024. For more on this, see
interoperability and roll
my piece on page 28.
out the latest technology
One of the strengths of both CCW
and TCCA is the way they cover the
in time for the Olympic
whole range of critical communications
and Paralympic
end-users, and this will become
Games in 2024
increasingly important given the
eorts within standards bodies to compile user requirements and ensure that the
underlying technologies meet the needs of all users and through doing so maximise
economies of scale. With this in mind, on page 24 James Atkinson takes a look at
the current use of TETRA in metros – a rapidly growing sector with its own needs
and challenges.
Turning back to PPDR, Philip Mason’s article on page 18, in which the Public
Safety Network’s TJ Kennedy and Jason Karp (who, like many other interviewees
for this issue’s features, will be speaking at CCW) discuss the connected ambulance
concept and the need to ensure that public safety agencies can rapidly adopt both
today’s technology and that of tomorrow. With that in mind, it is encouraging
to see the use of virtual reality by West Midlands Fire Service to train its incident
commanders (page 32).
Sam Fenwick, editor
MISSION STATEMENT
Critical Communications Today
provides the global missioncritical
community with insight
into the latest technology
and best practice required
to ensure that its members
always have access to the
instant, one-to-many wireless
communications that can make
all the difference inmoments
of crisis.
We are dedicated to providing
our readers with the knowledge
they need when determining
their critical communications
strategies and procurements,
though delivering up-to-theminute
accurate information on
industry trends, developments,
and deployments, as well as
the latest new products and
services. Our journalists are
committed to easing out the
little details from your peers
that will allow you to draw
on the industry’s collective
experience of deploying and
implementing new projects
andsystems.
We work to stimulate and
focus debates on the topics
that matter most and provide
our readers with a means to
raise their concerns and speak
frankly about their work and
the lessons they’ve learned
while delivering the devices and
networks that the world’s blue
light organisations depend on.
4 www.criticalcomms.com June 2019
/www.criticalcomms.com