Next Generation 911

Columbia University along with Texas A&M and University of Virginia unveiled an open technology for E911 call handling this past Thursday in Washington DC. The project, named as NG911, is a 2 year effort to solve the nagging problem of locating E911 callers on VoIP networks.

The use of an IP based solution allows NG911 to add multimedia capabilites to the existing archaic 911 system. For instance, it'll allow capturing and transmitting of video.

Though the project is still at early stages, it was claimed that as part of the demonstration phase, the NG911 group will be setting up two E911 capable call centers at Texas and Virginia by the end of this year.

Apart from the three universities, this project involves Internet2, Cisco, Nortel Networks, and the National Emergency Number Association (NENA).

The relevance of this research has further increased given FCC's E911 regulations announced last week.