FCC Forum to Address Emergency Response Interoperability Center

The Federal Communications Commission's Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau (Bureau) will hold a public forum to discuss the creation of an emergency response interoperability center for public safety broadband communications.

The Bureau is holding this public forum in response to public comments the Commission received as part of the National Broadband Plan proceedings which identified the need for enhanced coordination and cooperation among public safety entities to achieve broadband interoperability and operability. The forum will examine ways in which this could be achieved, including the creation of an emergency response interoperability center to develop common standards and to provide interoperability and operating procedures for the public safety licensee authorized to construct, operate and use the nationwide wireless broadband network. The forum will solicit ideas and comments from interested parties on these topics. Discussions will focus on how the interoperability center should be structured, what its role should be and how it can accomplish critical tasks such as establishing a public safety interoperability profile, interoperability standards, authentication, encryption, roaming, priority access, application uses and interconnectivity. The forum will also focus on the role an emergency response interoperability center would play in establishing a national framework for gateway functionality and interface capabilities, as well as a national framework for interconnectivity and compatibility of user networks.