It's taken a surprisingly long amount of time, but it appears that New York City will finally have a high-speed wireless data network that will be developed for emergency responders. The network is expected to go live in Lower Manhattan by this coming January.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced today that the city has signed a $500 million five-year contract with Northrop Grumman to build the Citywide Mobile Wireless Network, which will allow responders to access information such as maps and video and anti-terrorism databases.
As has been discussed many times in the five years since the 9/11 attacks, New York City's emergency communications systems flaws were exposed, and the hope is this network will insure that these flaws will never occur again.
1. ."The wireless technology will enable New York City Police and Fire Department personnel to quickly access and download information including city maps,building plans and federal and state counter-terrorism and crime databases from police vehicles and fire and EMS apparatus.In addition,city agencies employing safety inspectors and maintenance teams in the field will also be able to utilize the wireless network.In the first phase of the project,the two companies selected for the pilot, Northrop Grumman Corporation and Motorola,will install and test their wireless capabilities in Lower Manhattan.After the six-month pilot,the city may select one of the vendors to implement the wireless system citywide"
Posted at 4:07AM on Sep 13th 2006 by Eric