December 13, 2001
The "three-country" pilot to be conducted in Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands is the first step towards the deployment of ISI interoperability.
Nice, 12th December 2001.Nokia and Motorola are making use of TETRA technology to enable Professional Mobile Radio users to communicate efficiently with each other across borders and systems in a pilot involving Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands. The pilot uses a TETRA network connection based on a general four-wire interface.
Provisioning agreements between Public Safety network operators enable subscribers to use network services provided by their neighbouring partners when travelling across borders. Even more essentially, the TETRA network connection enables users to conduct demanding multi-organisation operations in spite of network boundaries.
The Motorola and Nokia solution will enable TETRA Network operators to provide voice group communication by cross-connecting "talk groups" over the boundaries of TETRA networks and vendors. Users with TETRA terminals visiting a neighbouring country will be in continuous contact with their colleagues on both sides of the border, as well as, being in communications with their Command and Control Centers.
The TETRA network connection solution has been developed, made field deployable and tested across international borders to support the first phases of the three-country TETRA pilot program between Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands. The goals of the program are to confirm the operational benefit of cross-border use, to provide a platform for operational staff in the three countries in order to gain experience on multi-vendor cross-border communication, and to ratify the Schengen agreement on using TETRA as the communication standard for cross-border communication in Europe.
In Germany, the Aachen Pilot System became operational in July 2001, and is being used by five Public Safety organisations. In Belgium, the National public safety network, ASTRID, has been operational since June 2001 and will cover the Belgian side of the border areas from the middle of 2002. On the Dutch border - the C2000 system - which recently received approval for nationwide rollout, will provide coverage within the same timeframe. After the experience from the three-country pilot, the participant organisations and TETRA manufactures will be better prepared to develop the TETRA ISI (Inter System Interface). The TETRA MoU Technical Forum is detailing the ISI standardisation work developed by ETSI, specifically by enabling network-interoperability of circuit and IP switched technology into the standard. The result of the TETRA MoU work will be published in TETRA Interoperability Profiles (TIP). "It is good to see the industry working together to allow group communication over the TETRA network boundary. It is truly a major step towards efficient cross-border communication and operation in the Europe of free movement" says Chris Drieskens, the Technical Director of ASTRID.
"After the Enschede disaster there is no doubt that cross-border communication fulfilling the Schengen agreement requirements is needed." continues Hans Borgonjen Manager in ITO.
"Nokia believes the TETRA network connection solution provides useful experience for both the user organisations and TETRA manufacturers on cross-border user operation, thus enabling faster and better suited implementation of ISI functionality" says Kari Suneli, Senior Vice President, Nokia Networks.
Bill Spencer, Senior Vice President, Motorola adds, "We have been very pleased with our trial in Aachen, and we now look forward to implementing the three-country pilot. When talking with our customers we know there is a strong desire for interoperability. Fast reliable and resilient communications are needed across all borders whether they be county or country."
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