Padcom, a provider of mobile virtual network (MVN) solutions has announced that the City of Fremont Police Department has used its TotalRoam software to establish a seamless migration path from their Cellular Digital Packet Data (CDPD) network to a new GPRS network. The software upgrade provides the department with the static IP addressing needed to meet public safety application requirements while maintaining the ability to seamlessly roam between dissimilar networks. The software integrates easily with systems and applications already in use.
At present the City of Fremont Police Department uses TotalRoam to create a mobile virtual network that allows mobile units to roam seamlessly between their current wide-area networks (GPRS and CDPD) and 802.11b WLAN "hotspots" deployed across the city, facilitating information sharing, providing access to critical applications and enabling high-speed data transfers. The Fremont PD decided to implement the new network in advance of the actual end of support for the CDPD network to take advantage of the improved speed offered through the GPRS network, and to prepare their mobile fleet for the absence of CDPD. A standard upgrade to the TotalRoam Gateway server allowed the Fremont PD IT administrators to equip the first cruiser on June 11, 2003. The first phase of cruiser deployments is now complete and by the end of August 2003 they plan to equip an additional 80 cruisers with the technology, integrating their databases and current applications with the new GPRS network.
"Due to discontinued support of our CDPD network by the carriers, the department needed a fast and easy solution to transition to a GPRS network," said Pam Lutzinger, Information Systems Manager, City of Fremont Police Department. "Padcom's technology made the switch to GPRS very easy and we look forward to migrating the rest of the fleet to the GPRS network. TotalRoam(R) already addresses critical department requirements such as encryption regulations and the need for seamless roaming between networks. The fact that the static IP addressing was integrated into the TotalRoam(R) solution made the migration process simple and seamless."
A number of police agencies and mobile workers across the USA are currently dealing with changes in wireless communications, specifically the phase out of CDPD networks. In addition to the City of Fremont, four more Padcom customers are currently using TotalRoam to manage similar CDPD to GPRS migrations."
Posted to the site on 8th August 2003
Posted to: www.cellular-news.com/story/9475.php