Positron brings VoIP technology to
Jasper County, Indiana
Sacramento, California, February 24, 2004

Jasper County, located in north-western Indiana, is home to 30,000 residents over 560 sq. miles. In service since July 2003, the new Power 911 system allows 9-1-1 communications to be handled from three locations:

• Two Power 911 answering positions at the Jasper County Sheriff's Office in Rensellaer
• One Power 911 answering position at the Rensselaer City Police Department in Rensellaer
• One Power 911 answering position at the DeMotte Town Police Department, located 18 miles South of Rensselaer

All four Power 911 workstations operate seamlessly with the central Life Line 100 ANI/ALI controller located at the Sheriff's Office. A robust implementation of Voice over IP (or VoIP) extends the "virtual" walls of the PSAP, allowing geographically distant answering positions to operate as if they were in the same room.

Voice over IP

Voice over IP, commonly abbreviated VoIP, refers to the transmission of voice conversations over a data network. The "IP" represents the Internet Protocol (as in TCP/IP), a protocol that facilitates data communications over a variety of networks including the internet. VoIP digitizes voice audio, sends it in the form of data packets over an IP network, then converts the data back into audible voice at the receiving end. (To find out more on how VoIP applications can serve public safety applications, please read Positron's VoIP White Paper).

The Jasper County system is a robust implementation of VoIP, where Quality of Service is assured via dedicated data links between the two remote sites and the central controller. These links also extend the Power 911 data network to all positions. Sprint provided the Positron system, data links and provides the County with on-site support.

Power 911

The Power 911 Intelligent Workstations provide a rich set of call handling features, with First-Party CTI to Nortel Networks Norstar telephony (First-Party CTI is the No-Single-Point-of-Failure approach to Computer Telephony Integration).

All call activity is handled via the workstation (no physical phone is required). The Jasper County Power 911 system is configured with a rich feature set that includes built-in ALI in both categorized and raw display modes, full TTY functionality, an integrated call recorder that links recordings to call records, a rolodex that provides both protected and personal entries, and a Premise Information module that automatically indicates if additionally stored information is available for the current caller's ANI.

Positron's Power MIS Management Information System is also implemented, and provides PSAP management with a rich set of reports on system and calltaker activity and performance.

Positron is pleased to welcome Jasper County to the family.