911 calls

[irishhooligan]

Anyone out there using an M1 to process 911 calls for a PSAP? If so, are you using Symposium for the PSAP agents?

I'm interested in what packages or additional software it would take on our Option 81C and SCCS to properly process 911 calls. Any other feedback, input, war stories, etc. are encouraged.

Option 81C at CS 4.5
SCCS at 5.0 (going to 6.0 shortly)
***the PSAP is currently connected via a fiber remote***

Thanks

 

[Milesprower]

There are two major vendors of e911 equipment: Positron and Plant Vista. They test with Nortel and put out application guides. Nortel has also put out bulletins detailing configuration for e911 applications.

We have done SCCS 4.2 and 5.0 e911 centers with both vendor's equipment. The SCCS application is very vanilla.

I would check with the 911 vendor and Nortel before upgrading. Usually the vendor will go through testing at Nortel's labs for a new symposium release.

 

[irishhooligan]

Thanks for the reply. I'm familiar with Plant/CML and their Vesta product. Also, I've seen Positron at NENA/APCO but, I don't want to rely on the vendors for information on the PBX. Because, I want to make sure that were not buying any packages we dont need or wont use.

I will search for the e911 bulletins. Care to share any "gotchas" you've encountered when installing e911 on Meridians?

 

[Milesprower]

Most of the issues we've seen are incompatibilites between the Plant and Nortel phonesets. These has supposedly been ironed out, but there was a period of time when we had to find older revisions of Nortel phones to work with Plant.

If you've looked at the architecture, then you know the SCCS does very little but tell the switch to connect the call. (I think Positron's application may be a bit tighter, but they are both similar).

The vendors emulate the Nortel phoneset and take the call information off of the phoneset display. For this reason, you cannot configure the phoneset display in SCCS. There is also a difference in how abandoned calls are handled. The Switch will not drop the trunk on an abandoned call (because of the nature of a 911 center). There used to be some bulletins from Nortel on 911 center applications, but I can't find them since the PIC was re-designed.

The SCCS ends up being fancy tool for admin and reporting (if the customer uses it). Many times they use the Postiron or Vesta reports and ignore the SCCS data.

Others reading this post may have further info.