Whether you are in an accident on the road, have an emergency at home, or an employee needs medical attention, no communication is more important than a call to 911. The landlines installed 100 years ago were not designed for today’s mobile and connected world. As businesses continue to move their communications onto the cloud, providing accurate 911 call routing and location management has become increasingly complicated.

Partnering with Lumen Enterprise Business, Vision Net is under contract to provide the engineering expertise to power a statewide NG911 network. Next Generation 911 (NG911) technology means that in addition to your 911 call coming into a PSAP (Public Safety Answering Point), your location information is delivered to the 911 dispatcher. This provides better and more accurate information than landline-based 911, when callers could get a busy signal or have their call dropped. NG911 technology allows calls to be routed to an alternate Master Street Address Guide (MSAG) within seconds and location and other metadata is sent automatically to the call center, freeing the dispatcher to concentrate on the caller.

Bill Daniels, Vision Net’s NG911 Supervisor, has overseen the dynamic growth and expansion of our 911 services. His team is responsible for maintaining and monitoring Montana’s Emergency Services network (ESINet), Network centers in Billings and Missoula, and the call-taking equipment for 47 of those counties.

Bill’s team has worked hard to bring modern 911 to Montana communities and residents, providing a literal lifeline to many of Montana’s communities and residents. In addition to increased location accuracy, NG911 will have the capability of allowing 911 callers to send video, photos, and other metadata to the 911 dispatcher that helps first responders locate the emergency, provide care, and deliver better outcomes. Many counties in Montana already receive text messages from cell phones. Vision Net is excited about the potential for additional emergency data from vehicle-based services like OnStar and Sync, as well as other IP-connected devices.

Vision Net’s secure, redundant, and expanding NG911 network was designed and built for optimized performance. Learn more about our expertise in building and expanding NG911 Service throughout the region.