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January 19, 2009
Report: Sprint Tapping Obama for $2 Billion Emergency Communications Network
By Michael Dinan, TMCnet Editor
The United States’ third-largest wireless company reportedly is calling for the government to fund a $2 billion emergency network that would improve the way first responders – firefighters, police and paramedics – communicate during disasters.
Officials at Sprint Nextel Corp pitched a 5-year-plan to President-elect Barack Obama’s transition team recently, according to Reuters (News - Alert) reporter Kim Dixon.
Dixon interviewed one Sprint official who described the plan as a “ready to deploy emergency communications system that can be programmed to be interoperable with existing public safety networks.”
Specifically, it calls for 100 satellite-based light trucks that would respond to emergencies, and 100,000 or more mobile handsets and equipment at up to 40 pre-selected sites, Dixon reports.
Obama’s team has been searching for new ways to bolster emergency communications – particularly in light of problems that surfaced during the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and Hurricane Katrina.
The team’s strategy appears to be inclusive, and its call for ideas on emergency communications seems to reflect the way it intends to solicit opinions from outside of government.
As TMCnet reported, officials with San Francisco’s Salesforce.com – a Web-based customer relationship management and Software-as-a-Service provider – say that Obama’s transition team is using their technology to set up a sort of testing lab online for citizens’ ideas.
The Obama administration’s so-called “Citizen’s Briefing Book” – available here – leverages Salesforce’s “CRM Ideas” to allow Americans to submit an idea about an issue facing the government. Others will be able to vote on those ideas and the most popular ones will be presented directly to Obama and his cabinet following Tuesday’s inauguration, the company says, in a document to be called “The Citizen’s Briefing Book.”
Marc Benioff (News - Alert) (News - Alert), chairman and chief executive officer of Salesforce.com (News - Alert), said his company is honored to be one of the first solutions selected by the transition team to help the President-elect realize his vision of a “more transparent government.”
“With Salesforce CRM Ideas, government can transform a closed conversation into a collaborative dialogue that leverages the wisdom of the crowd,” Benioff said.
Here’s what the tool’s main page looks like:
Meanwhile, Dixon reports, Sprint (News - Alert) officials want to include their proposal in the billions flagged for technology in the economic stimulus plan working its way through Congress.
“The sites would allow for equipment to be shipped and arrive anywhere in the United States within four hours,” Dixon reports.
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Michael Dinan is a contributing editor for TMCnet, covering news in the IP communications, call center and customer relationship management industries. To read more of Michael's articles, please visit his columnist page.
Edited by Michael Dinan
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