News - INdigital

3 NG911 Deployment Models and the One Standard That Holds It All Together

June 3, 2026June 3, 2026 by John Kilhefner

Key Takeaways:

NG911 deployment models take three forms: statewide ESInets, regional coalitions, and single PSAPs. A state can run one ESInet across every PSAP. A group of counties can pool procurement into a regional ESInet. Or an individual ECC can contract on its own. The model is often set by state 911 law and who holds the authority to levy, collect, and spend 911 fees.
The NENA i3 standard is the shared architecture that lets statewide, regional, and local NG911 deployments work as one system. It defines every functional element of NG911, including how a call originates, how it routes, and how PSAPs transfer calls and share capacity across jurisdictions. How long a deployment lasts depends on how closely it holds to i3 at the boundary.
Cross-ESInet interoperability depends on the i3 Forest Guide, the functional element that routes a 911 call when one ESInet can’t resolve the destination from its own data. The national Forest Guide is not yet operational, so inter-ESInet routing currently relies on bilateral coordination between adjacent providers. This makes “tested transfer success rate” the question that carries weight in procurement.

The Map Is the Network: Inside NG911 GIS Mapping

May 19, 2026May 19, 2026 by John Kilhefner

Key Takeaways:

In legacy 911, routing and caller location were two separate flat-file lookups stitched together by phone number, and either could fail independently. NG911 GIS mapping changes that: the map itself becomes the routing engine, with the ECRF running a geospatial routing query against the authoritative GIS layer to find the right PSAP and the LVF validating location data before a call ever happens.
GIS coordinators are now adjacent to call delivery. A centerline edited Tuesday can carry live emergency traffic by Wednesday. Most counties’ GIS was never built to be a routing layer, which is why INDIGITAL runs MSAG and GIS mapping in parallel until NG911 GIS quality is provably equal or better.
INDIGITAL’s DIG validates incoming GIS data at the source, and LIOS monitors data already in service and produces the documented evidence Phase 2 approvals require. When the FCC’s next round of Phase 2 requests moves through carrier review, provably accurate NG911 GIS mapping gets approved on first submission; assumed-accurate data gets bounced.

5 Reasons NG911 Modernization Can’t Wait

May 6, 2026May 7, 2026 by John Kilhefner

Key Takeaways:

NG911 modernization is no longer optional. FCC 24-78, effective Nov. 25, 2024, calls for originating service providers (OSPs) to deliver 911 traffic in SIP format on request.
NG911 modernization built to NENA i3 is the difference between a 20-year deployment and a five-year one. The standard defines specific interoperable functional elements (ESRP, ECRF, LVF, BCF, etc.), allowing systems to evolve without a complete overhaul.
NG911 modernization must account for disaster resilience as a core architecture requirement, not an afterthought. When Livingston Parish’s 911 capability collapsed during the 2016 Baton Rouge flooding, the IT director physically carried a CAD server through rising floodwater as neighboring dispatchers recorded call notes on paper. A pre-positioned mobile emergency voice operations unit would have been a game-changer for emergency response.

In the spring of 1968, a switchboard operator at the Haleyville, Alabama Police Department picked up a ringing line and answered the first 911 call ever placed in the United States. The caller knew where the call was going because they were in Haleyville. The receiver knew where the caller was because the address tied to the phone number on a piece of paper in a binder.

Meet Our New Brand: The Story Behind INDIGITAL’s Evolution

April 12, 2026May 6, 2026 by Ben

There’s an unspoken rule in public safety infrastructure. If you’re doing your job well, thankfully, nobody notices. The 911 call connects, the address routes it correctly, and the dispatcher sees the correct location on the right screen. The organizations that build and maintain that invisible architecture rarely get credit for it, and most of them prefer it that way.

INdigital Appoints Doug Kesser as Chief Revenue Officer

March 10, 2026March 10, 2026 by Amanda King

FORT WAYNE, Ind. — March 10, 2026 — INdigital, a leading provider of Next Generation 911 (NG911) core services, today announced the appointment of Doug Kesser as Chief Revenue Officer.

Kesser brings more than two decades of direct leadership experience in the telecommunications and public safety communications industry, most recently serving as VP of Sales and Partnerships at Comtech Telecommunications Corp. In this role, he led strategic sales initiatives and cultivated partnerships focused on advancing mission-critical communications solutions for VoIP and wireless carriers, government, and public safety agencies.