Banks County, Georgia, Chooses Effortless Path to Next Generation 9-1-1 With Solacom
Easy-to-use system enabled simple transition to powerful IP-based functionality, creation of backup center
HOMER, Ga., January 10, 2019 — Banks County in northeast Georgia is now equipped with an advanced emergency call handling and management solution from Solacom. The IP-based solution gives Banks County E911 the ability to handle and manage emergency calls using advanced Next Generation 9-1-1 (NG9-1-1) functionality.
Solacom’s Guardian 9-1-1 Call Handling solution, installed on November 14, replaces the end-of-life legacy system at the public safety answering point (PSAP) in Homer, Georgia.
“What really sold us on it was how easy it was to use,” says Deidra Moore, director of Banks County E911. “We made the decision to go with Solacom after visiting the PSAP at Laurens County, South Carolina. They already use Solacom and absolutely love it. We really liked what we saw. Our call takers felt like they could just sit down and start working and not even need any training.”
At the desktop, the Guardian 9-1-1 Call Handling solution is user-centric, customizable, and supports administrative and emergency call processing. It is engineered to respond to emergency and administrative calls, perform call distribution functions, transfer calls with the click of a button, provide unlimited conferencing, and allow call takers to see and manage every leg of an active call.
Behind the desktop, the solution is engineered to manage emergency calls from any device, in any format. Designed to support all current and emerging standards, Guardian 9-1-1 Call Handling provides a simple, evolutionary path to NG9-1-1 emergency call management requirements and enables future enhancements without replacing the underlying infrastructure.
As part of a complete transition to NG9-1-1, Solacom worked with Banks County E911 to create a customized backup center five miles away in Commerce, Georgia, allowing the PSAP to maintain emergency operations in the event of a disaster at the main site in Homer. As part of its continuity planning, Banks County also opted for Solacom Guardian Mobile, which enables call takers to continue full-featured 9-1-1 call management from any location with a high-speed internet connection.
“Banks County is now one of the first PSAPs in north Georgia with a fully redundant backup center. That’s a huge advantage for public safety,” says Tony Parrott, Solacom’s vice president of sales. “Having a backup center also affects ISO (International Organization for Standardization) ratings, which helps to lower homeowner insurance rates.”
Banks County also is able to pinpoint the location of any call with Guardian Map, Solacom’s advanced geo-location and mapping application feature, and log all calls, track call activity, and package all data into useable and actionable reports with Solacom’s Guardian Management Information System (MIS).
Ongoing local maintenance for Banks County’s new system will be provided by Solacom’s partner Frontier Communications.
About Solacom
Solacom 9-1-1 call handling and management solutions are built on more than 30 years of research and innovation in the application of advanced hardware and software technologies for public safety. Today, Solacom Guardian 9-1-1 solutions support thousands of agencies affecting millions of lives annually. From dense urban environments to statewide deployments, Solacom solutions are trusted to streamline 9-1-1 call handling and management processes and enable more efficient collection of critical information in emergency situations. For more information, visit: www.solacom.com