Implementation of NG9-1-1 in Rural America–The Counties of Southern Illinois: Experience and Opportunities

This article describes the deployment of a next generation 9-1-1 network in Southern Illinois. Thirteen counties and one municipality banded together to design, build, test and deploy this network, which provides voice, text, video and data services to emergency callers, call takers, and first responders. The author describes key challenges where contributions have been and will continue to be made through the collaboration of industry, academia, government, and standards bodies. Lessons learned and potential next steps are examined.