World Focus
Who, what, where
EUROPE
The Netherlands
switches on new
emergency network
e Dutch government has con rmed
the successful transition to a new TETRA
emergency service communications network.
During the overnight migration, the
previous voice network was put on standby
while the new C2000 network became
operational. e process had been carefully
prepared to ensure emergency services
provisions continued as normal without any
noticeable disruption for residents.
Emergency services carried out their work
using alternative procedures and means of
communication, including using mobile
phones, and the emergency number 112
remained accessible.
Nationwide coverage was restored
immediately after the migration
wascompleted.
Highways England
invests in Sepura
TETRA radios
Highways England has upgraded its critical
communications capabilities with the purchase
of over 700 Sepura SC20 TETRA radios for its
frontline tra c o cers.
Highways England manages more than 4,300
miles of road, carrying a third of all tra c by
mileage and two-thirds of all heavy-goods tra c.
Its tra c o cers have a responsibility to help
the company keep major roads free- owing, safe
and serviceable. To do that, they need to be able
to speak to other patrols and back to one of the
seven control rooms, using the UK’s nationwide
TETRA Airwave network.
Al Edwards, technology operations manager
for Highways England, explained: “ e SC20
had a number of features that will undoubtedly
enhance the safety of our o cers when on patrol
or attending incidents.”
Swiss Air-Rescue
service Rega deploys
Hexagon CAD
Swiss Air-Rescue service Rega has successfully
implemented Hexagon’s computer-aided
dispatch (CAD) solution.
e highly integrated solution will support
the 17,000 missions the agency completes each
year, with sta at Rega’s command and control
centre using Hexagon to support call-taking
and incident management.
e new Hexagon solution modernises
Rega’s emergency call-handling, incident
management, alerts, dispatch and post-incident
analysis capabilities. It is integrated with
Rescuetrack’s helicopter tracking software –
adding geographic information system (GIS)
and geodata management system features.
Rega supervisors and o cers can now run
an integrated system with operational- and
information-speci c elements.
6 www.criticalcomms.com March 2020
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