Neel Mehta
Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN) has developed a new server-based system that links 4G LTE and P25 systems over the same network, allowing public-safety officials to remain connected with one another at all times.
The new server is scalable to suit each customer“™s desires, using gateways including Raytheon’s ACU-5000 for local interoperability to convert non-IP communications, such as radios and telephones, for transfer to the server. It operates strongly on the understanding that during a disaster or other type of incident that requires interagency interoperability, most of the links will be local, and works to maintain this local interoperability, as well as the means to control it under all circumstances, including infrastructure failure.
“Interoperability in a large-scale disaster is critical,” said Bill Iannacci, director of Civil Communications Solutions for Raytheon’s Network Centric Systems business. “Raytheon’s interoperable server solution promotes customer choice, as it integrates the existing equipment of each city and has built-in ability to support next-generation communications technology. This allows municipalities to upgrade hardware, from their preferred vendors, as budgets allow.”
Raytheon has long been a pioneer of interoperability-its Audio Connect Unit technology initiated the radio interoperability gateway concept in the late 1990s.
