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TMIS eNewsletter - Winter 2005
By: Mary McLaughlin
Tools for efficiency — Mobile Computing Tools for Commuting Professionals.
'Help! i've got VoIP and I can't call 911!' This is the complaint the FCC planned to eliminate when it gave providers of Internet phone technology a mandate and a deadline of November 28 to give their customers a way to reach an emergency services dispatcher who can identify their phone number and location, or be forced to stop providing the service.
Now, the FCC is lightening the requirement by allowing existing customers to continue using their Voice over IP telephones while the bugs are still being worked out with the exising VoIP911 or E911 solutions.
It is no wonder the FCC is taking the problem so seriously. Approximately 5.5 million people use some type of Internet phone, and that figure is expected to hit 3 million users just in the United States by the end of the year. The number of users in the US is expected to be near 27 million in four years.
There are a couple of methods for providing E911 solutions currently in development. The company I911 Resource uses a GPS device to pinpoint the exact location of the caller in terms of longitude, latitude and altitude. Location software and database comparisons are then used to find the address of the emergency and route the call to the nearest public safety service.
TeleCommunication Systems, Inc., has a private network 911 service for broadband and packet communications. They use five redundant entry points for 911 calls through the Internet. The strategic geographic placement of these points provides routing instructions through a database that then delivers location indentification to the nearest emergency services provider.
Other technological developments in telecommunications we're covering in this Winter issue of TMIS eNew! sletter includes a device called Qlink that reduces the adverse effects of active mobile phones or human brain cells. In another article, now that 32-bit IP addresses using the IPv4 protocol for Internet addresses has reached it's natural limit, international Internet hosting provider Verio is meeting the demand for the IPv6 protocol. Their IP version 4/version 6 dual stack Virtual Private Server provides early adapters the opportunity to develop IPv6-enabled products and services in a cost-effective test environment before transitioning entirely to the new Internet protocol.
Bluetooth has already received a lot of attention, and now another emerging wireless standard called ZigBee could soon be the lower-cost alternative for wireless sensing. ZigBee proponents believe mesh networking is the key to unattended wireless systems in the home, business or industry. Essentially, the technology uses remote sensors to gather data relating to the status and position of remote devices, transmitting the data to a central server for analysis and decision making for other individuals or devices, all in what seems like 'real time.'
Don't be surprised to find such devices in the near future at your local home-supply megastore: monitors for elder residents, networked sprinkler systems that run for seven years on a single battery, and radio-equipped windows that call you if they break. Primarily designed to solve problems at home and in the workplace, ZigBee uses the very low power 250-Kbps standard, now very popular with consumers wanting to reduce battery consumption on their ever-expanding array of devices.
I am grateful to be in a collaborative business with many talented and skilled professionals. Additional feedback and recommendations for our products and services at TM Information Services http://www.tminformationservices.com are always welcome.
- Mary M. McLaughlin
You can view the entire Wnter 2005 TMIS eNewlsetter at http://www.tmis.org/enewsletters/2005-12-5.html
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About Author
President and Principal Consultant at technical communications firm TM Information Services
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