Category: Blog

3 Emergencies That Put MEVO to the Test

by John Kilhefner

Key Takeaways:

  • Real-event performance is the only proof that matters. Every vendor produces a disaster-recovery slide deck. Nashville, Hurricane Helene, and Hurricane Milton each created conditions no slide deck anticipated. And every PSAP on INDIGITAL’s network answered calls through all three. The record exists; ask any vendor for theirs before signing.
  • MEVO runs continuously, not just in emergencies. MEVO’s three deployment configurations (statewide, site-resident, and the portable MEVO Anywhere Kit) mean backup call handling is active before an event begins, not assembled after one starts. The same kit Lenawee County deploys for a NASCAR weekend at Michigan International Speedway is the kit that handled Hurricane Milton across 30+ Florida counties.
  • Operational discipline is the other half of the architecture. Geographic redundancy and multi-path transport hold up only when the people behind them are already in motion. Monthly disaster simulations, post-event Reports of Outage within hours, Root Cause Analyses within 24-48 hours, and U.S.-based engineers available by name on a Saturday at 3 a.m. are what convert a resilient architecture into a resilient system.
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3 NG911 Deployment Models and the One Standard That Holds It All Together

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.
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The Map Is the Network: Inside NG911 GIS Mapping

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.
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5 Reasons NG911 Modernization Can’t Wait

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.

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