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From police vehicles on the road to ambulances attending the sick, radio communications has played a vital role for decades in protecting citizens and saving lives. And, while the technology has continued to evolve to serve the country's citizens even better from time to time, it has its limitations, which surface during times of disasters — some man made and others natural. Having learned lessons from tragedies like Sept. 11 2001 and last year's blackout, New York State officials have realized the importance of communications. Thus, the state is taking steps to ensure that there are no more communications lapses in the administration, especially among the emergency response agencies like police, fire, medical and others. Toward that goal, recently New York State unveiled a plan to construct a sophisticated radio system that comprises a network of radio transmitters from the Adirondack Mountains to the Hudson Valley. This plan was reported in the New York Times, May 1, 2004.

As per the newspaper report, it is being designed to cover nearly 95 percent of the state, linking all emergency agencies throughout the state. A series of radio towers, each designed to withstand rough winds and snow storms, will be spread across the state, and backed by power generators, so that the system is not disabled during a power failure or a blackout. Besides guaranteeing full reliability when put in place, it significantly will improve coordination between police, fire, medical and all other major emergency services across the state, so that during emergency situations, the government resources are effectively and efficiently coordinated and deployed.

At last month's independent commission investigating the Sept.11 attacks, it was revealed that the inability of different departments, such as police and fire, to talk to one another on a common radio frequency might have contributed to losing more lives on that sad day. Incidentally, looking at the statements made by various officials during the investigation, it appears that it was lack of knowledge that prevented the Mayor's office to configure these departments with a radio system that would allow them to communicate with each other during emergency situations. Even though the technology was available then and in use in some places around the country.

Anyway, according to the New York Times report, the estimated cost of building such a complex radio network is going to be about $1 billion. It is expected to address serious communications problems that the state confronted on 9/11/2001 and the last major blackout.

The state of New York contract was recently awarded to M/A-Com, a subsidiary of Tyco Electronics, which had to compete with bids from players like Motorola. Well, New York is not alone in this race or setting a trend here. In reality, it is a late-comer to adopt this modern wireless network that would allow state agencies, police, fire and other emergency responders to be connected using two-way radios and a common frequency. Thus, fixing its decades old systems riddled with problems, partly because different units relied on different systems that were incompatible with each other. In fact, suppliers like Motorola have been building similar systems in many other states across the country. And, in fact, has demonstrated the technology many years prior to the Sept. 11 attacks.

Obviously, the reason why state officials in general are so late in adopting advances in technology is due to lack of information and knowledge. To avoid such delays in deployment of leading-edge technologies in the future, the developers must make a concerted effort to educate the government officials and decision makers on recent advances in technology. And, what forthcoming issues it can address to keep the quality of service efficient at all time.

In addition, modern radio systems are far more complex and can do a lot more than simply transmit and receive voice. They offer an IP architecture with unparalleled access to a combination of voice and data functionality, interoperability and network security with the ability to upgrade and expand in the future. Hence, a thorough training will go a long way in making best use of the radio communications network.

Please send your thoughts to abindra@primediabusiness.com