Business VoIP

Ascendent (News - Alert) Systems, a subsidiary of Research in Motion, and Sprint, have announced the deployment of Sprint Mobile Extension, powered by Ascendent Systems, at Lee County Sheriff’s Office.

 

This full-service law enforcement agency servicing Lee County, Fort Myers Beach and Bonita Springs will rely on this technology to enable its agents patrolling Lee County to respond faster to real emergencies such as robberies, accidents and other crimes.

 

In order to deliver fixed-mobile convergence capabilities to commanders and deputies who are away from their desks, Sprint Mobile Extension was integrated with the existing telephone infrastructure of the Sheriff’s Office.

The technology is designed to extend the identity and functionality of the desk phone out to any mobile device, thus simplifying how deputies communicate and check voicemail while away from their desks.

This solution enables agents and command staff to have one phone number with which to be reached and have their desk phones simultaneously ring with their mobile devices to ensure that they do not miss important calls and can respond to situations immediately.

 

Also, being able to make a call from their mobile phone and extend their desk phone number instead of their mobile number was an important security feature for the department.

 

“When we first learned about Mobile Extension and its fixed-mobile convergence capabilities, the most impressive element was its seamless integration.  We were so accustomed to inconveniences, such as missed calls and multiple voicemails, that we had no idea of the benefits of true voice mobility,” said Captain Richard Schneiders of Lee County Sheriff’s Office, in a Tuesday statement.

 

“We’ve seen vast improvements in both productivity and collaborative efforts since deploying Mobile Extension, and our citizens are better served as a result.”

Its strategic partnership with Ascendent Systems enables Sprint to provide sophisticated enterprise voice mobility to its corporate users nationwide.

 

Mobile Extension works with any phone, including BlackBerry (News - Alert) smartphones, other mobile phones, desk phones and home phones, and supports both TDM and IP corporate phone systems.

 

“Perception is shifting around fixed-mobile convergence, and this deployment is further validation that it can now be easily integrated into a variety of telephony environments,” said Theron Dodson (News - Alert), Director of Sales and Marketing for Ascendent Systems, in Tuesday’s statement.

 

“The deployment of Mobile Extension at Lee County Sheriff's Office is a great example of how voice mobility technology can be used by law enforcement organizations to be more responsive to citizens.”

Lee County has also equipped patrol cars with upgraded Mobile Broadband cards, offering applications including IP video telephony, Nextel Direct Connect push-to-talk service and multi-user video conferencing directly from the car.

 

“As law enforcement and computing become more and more sophisticated, we’re requiring more bandwidth than we ever thought possible.  Sprint Mobile Broadband allows us to push the data out to patrol cars, enabling officers to have the same abilities in their car as at their desk,” according to Captain Schneiders. 

 

“Today’s mobile workforce, whether it’s a sales team or law enforcement agency, no longer wants to be fixed to a desk.  We’re finding numerous customers turning to fixed-mobile convergence as the choice to enable mobility,” said Darlene Braunschweig, Vice President of Converged Network Solutions (News - Alert) at Sprint.

 

“Lee County Sheriff’s Office is a leader in its use of new technologies to help perform more efficiently, and we are happy to help extend its reach with both Sprint Mobile Extension and the Sprint Mobile Broadband network.”

With this partnered solution from Sprint and Ascendent, the Lee County Sheriff’s office will be better equipped to respond to emergencies, while also communicating within the office and with constituents.

 

Susan J. Campbell is a contributing editor for TMC (News - Alert) and has also written for eastbiz.com. To see more of her articles, please visit Susan J. Campbell’s columnist page.