PORTLAND, Maine, Dec. 6, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The State of
Maine has awarded FairPoint Communications a 5-year contract worth
$32 million to provide the state's
next generation 9-1-1 system.
FairPoint will provide the system and support to serve
Maine's 26 Public Safety Answering
Points – known as PSAPs – which have responsibility to answer all
9-1-1 calls in their local coverage area. Every Maine community is matched with a local
PSAP. The Emergency Services Communication Bureau manages
both the implementation and operation of the statewide Enhanced
9-1-1 service that FairPoint currently provides.
FairPoint responded to the state's request for proposals with a
next generation system designed to handle emergency communications
in Maine. It will make
Maine one of the first states in
the nation to deploy a Next Generation 9-1-1 (NG 9-1-1) system
compliant with the National Emergency Number Association standards
published in June 2011. The new system solidifies the state's
leadership role in providing NG 9-1-1. It also paves the way for
the state to support advanced communications services that is
designed to help protect the lives and property of Maine's citizens.
"The new Maine E9-1-1 system
will use leading edge technology to handle current legacy and
next-generation communication technologies such as voice, instant
messaging, video and text messaging," said Karen Romano, FairPoint's vice president –
government, education and research. "FairPoint will provide a
fully integrated turnkey solution that will not only link voice,
data and video elements to E9-1-1 call facilities, but will
transfer data seamlessly, and it will provide the capability to
read text messages and view video when the industry standards are
developed."
"FairPoint's service will provide Maine with a 'next generation' E9-1-1 system,"
said Mike Reed, FairPoint Maine
state president. "FairPoint brings a state-of-the-art technical
solution, a robust and resilient network, and the skill, commitment
and capabilities of our people who maintain our network."
NG 9-1-1 also provides a reliable and flexible solution that
allows dynamic and robust call handling configurations to adapt to
disasters and emergency events that create a high 9-1-1 call
volume. Finally, it utilizes a commoditized transport
infrastructure incorporating Internet Protocol related technologies
that are affordable, readily available and easily maintained.
FairPoint has invested more than $190
million in communication infrastructure and technology to
upgrade its state-of-the-art, fiber-based core network in northern
New England. This investment has paved the way for FairPoint
to serve the growing needs of the Maine 9-1-1 system. This network is
designed and built as a data network and is the largest of its kind
in the three-state region.
About FairPoint Communications, Inc.
FairPoint Communications, Inc. (NasdaqCM: FRP) is a leading
communications provider of broadband Internet access, local and
long-distance phone, television and other high-capacity data
services to customers in communities across 18 states. Through its
fast, reliable fiber network, FairPoint delivers high-quality data
and voice networking communications solutions to residential,
business and wholesale customers. FairPoint delivers
VantagePoint(sm) services through its resilient IP-based
network in northern New England. This state-of-the-art fiber
network provides carrier Ethernet connections to support the
surging bandwidth and performance requirements for cloud-based
applications like network storage, disaster recovery, distance
learning, medical imaging, video conferencing and CAD/CAM along
with traditional voice, VoIP, video and Internet access solutions.
Additional information about FairPoint products and services is
available at www.FairPoint.com. You can also connect with FairPoint
on Twitter (http://www.twitter.com/fairpoint) and Facebook
(http://www.facebook.com/myfairpoint).
SOURCE FairPoint Communications, Inc.