Linux advocacy opportunity: Next generation 911 in NH

[Ken D'Ambrosio]

The "problem" here is that E911 (enhanced 911) and its kith and kin are
insanely complex.  Back in Ye Olde Days -- the days of stock, stationary,
analog 911 calls -- it was fairly straightforward: a database with
geographic locations matched to phone numbers.  Now, the mere spec is
hundreds of pages -- cell phones, VoIP, etc., all dramatically changed the
landscape.  Implementation is a bitch.  And proof of compliance even
moreso.  E911 gives telecom engineers nightmares, because that's one of
the places where the gov't Really Cares(tm) about things working right,
even across different vendor implementations.

Bottom line: it *could* be done OSS.  It probably even *should* be done
OSS.  But the up-front costs and development are non-trivial, and would
require someone with deep pockets to take a shot at it.  In addition to
that, they'd also face potential liability issues -- significantly moreso
than your average software implementation.  And, lastly, they'd be years
behind in implementing a standard, which is something that the big guys'
marketing dept's would be glad to leverage.

So... perhaps the good folks at Digium could get a working group going, as
I'm thinking someone in the telecom industry would have to spearhead this.
 But, to the best of my knowledge, there's no turnkey E911 OSS push,
anywhere; maybe they'd be the ones to take a stab at it.  But the barriers
to entry are not to be understated, and this may spook potential OSS
players.

-Ken

On Tue, July 6, 2010 11:11 pm, Joshua Judson Rosen wrote:
> VirginSnow at vfemail.net writes:
>
>>
>> According to a recent Associated Press article, our insightful(?)
>> leaders are contemplating upgrading New Hampshire's 911 system to accept
>> multimedia such as text messages, photos, etc.  They're requesting $4
>> million dollars for this... most of it for software(!)
>>
>> Does anybody see a great opportunity, here, for Linux advocacy?
>>
>
> All that comes to mind for me is..., isn't `911 emergency call' exactly
> the sort of situation in which one wants synchronous, low-latency comms
> with ongoing `SYN/ACK' in both directions? And doesn't that rule out SMS
> and e-mail?
>
> But, yeah--if they're really intent on going through with this,
> they'd better damn well demand source so that we can know how, and even
> *if*, the system actually works; so that when someone
> dies because their `help me I'm trapped in a storm-drain' e-mail doesn't go
> through in time, everyone knows it's not a fault of the 911 system.
>
> Maybe NH 911 should establish a Facebook presence....
>
>
> --
> "Don't be afraid to ask (λf.((λx.xx) (λr.f(rr))))."
>
>
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