Metro Boston Public Safety Network (PSnet)

The people and systems that provide for the public's safety at local and regional levels are increasingly dependent on communications services that must be continuously available, capable of surviving acts of man and nature, secure against threats from many adversaries, and also affordable. At the same time, new applications (e.g., video surveillance, mobile data) demand greater bandwidth and denser geographical deployment-factors that complicate network planning and increase costs. While new technologies enable faster and less expensive networks, these technologies are often used by commercial communications providers to reduce costs at the expense of reliability, survivability, and even security. By contrast, public safety organizations have decades of experience in deploying voice radio systems that have proven to be reliable and capable of surviving disruptive events, but where new capabilities have been slow to emerge. The daunting challenges of building and operating modern networks to the standards of public safety organizations are being met by an innovative project known as ldquoPSnet.rdquo While it is quite challenging to build networks that simultaneously provide high availability, survivability, security and affordability, PSnet is utilizing novel approaches that leverage Metro Boston municipal and community resources, regional asset sharing, and new technologies to fundamentally change the game rules in ways that advantage public safety organizations and their constituents.