North Carolina County Leverages New 4.9GHz Public Safety Band for Public Venues Security

Dec. 7, 2005
At venues including State's Fairgrounds, tying communications with Motorola's MOTOMESH network

RALEIGH, N.C. - Motorola, Inc. today announced that Wake County, N.C., has deployed the MOTOMESH multi-radio broadband solution to enhance public safety measures at three major venues across the county. The venues include the North Carolina State Fairgrounds, which last year had an attendance topping 795,000, as well as Carter-Finley Stadium at NC State University and the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) Center. Motorola's MOTOMESH based video system sends live video surveillance from major venues to the county public safety headquarters, and to patrolling police officers.

The County is the first to complete deployment of a 4.9GHz MOTOMESH network. The new 4.9 GHz public safety band offers added security and is less prone to interference than other wireless systems that utilize freely available unlicensed spectrum.

"The Wake County Domestic Preparedness Task Force supported this project to improve the coordinated video surveillance and wireless data capabilities of law enforcement agencies operating at these venues," said Brian McFeaters, Chairman, Wake County Domestic Preparedness Task Force. He added that Wake County utilized Department of Homeland Security funds through its Domestic Preparedness Task Force to purchase the network.

The MOTOMESH based video system will allow police officers to control and view surveillance cameras at several locations throughout the county from their patrol cars or while on foot. Users are able to pan across a crowd and even zoom in and out, while they view the video on laptop computers or on handheld devices. MOTOMESH leverages Motorola's proven Mesh Enabled Architecture (MEA(R)) technology, giving users a self-forming and self-healing mobile broadband connection for video and data applications.

"We host many large events at our world-class venues in Wake County and we needed a solution to better protect our residents and guests, without having to increase the size of the security detail," added John Higgins, IT Assistant Director, Wake County. "The MOTOMESH system gives our officers a way to remotely view real-time video from multiple cameras at these events. By taking advantage of the new licensed 4.9GHz spectrum the FCC put aside for public safety applications, we can provide a robust and secure link to our patrol cars and even to officers working amongst the crowds."

The collaborative effort between Wake County Public Safety agencies, NC State University, NC State Fairgrounds, and RBC has provided each agency the capability to work together in a more unified approach for events at the North Carolina State Fairgrounds.

"Wake County officials saw the need to increase public safety at large events and found that MOTOMESH gave them the capabilities they needed. It also gave them additional peace of mind by supporting these capabilities while operating 100% within the newly licensed 4.9GHz public safety band," said Richard Licursi, Vice President of the Mesh Networks Product Group at Motorola. "With more than a dozen MOTOMESH network deployments in progress, Motorola has clearly created a compelling mobile broadband solution for public safety officials interested in leveraging the additional security and lower interference found in the 4.9GHz spectrum."

MOTOMESH can also be configured to support industry standard Wi-Fi access and mobile broadband access in the unlicensed 2.4 GHz band. This enables municipal and county governments to deploy a single, mobile broadband network that offers unlicensed wireless access to the public and other agencies, while offering dedicated licensed access to first responders. MOTOMESH offers a complete metro wireless broadband solution to support today and tomorrow's Government initiatives.

Motorola's mesh networks technology was originally developed for the military battlefield in order to provide instant, ad-hoc communication networks where fixed infrastructure was not available or deployable. As a result, users receive a robust mobile broadband communications network that is self-forming and self-healing. Motorola's unique Multi-Hopping(R) technology turns every mesh-enabled user into a router/repeater, so every user makes the network stronger. It also allows users to hop through each other and form instant ad hoc peer-to-peer networks among themselves.

Motorola is a Fortune 100 global communications leader that provides seamless mobility products and solutions across broadband, embedded systems and wireless networks. In your home, auto, workplace and all spaces in between, seamless mobility means you can reach the people, things and information you need, anywhere, anytime. Seamless mobility harnesses the power of technology convergence and enables smarter, faster, cost-effective and flexible communication. Motorola had sales of US $31.3 billion in 2004.For more information: http://www.motorola.com.