Cisco announced its support of the public safety Project 25 (P25) family of open standards and the P25 Inter Sub-System Interface (ISSI) protocol in collaboration with EADS and Raytheon JPS. P25 was established to address the need for common digital public safety radio communications standards for first responders and homeland security and emergency response professionals. Cisco, Raytheon JPS and EADS are demonstrating that with radio networks supporting the P25 ISSI and Cisco IP Interoperability and Collaboration System (IPICS), customers can achieve a powerful, cost-effective and flexible system that increases overall public safety communications reliability and interoperability using a network of networks.

With P25 ISSI and Cisco IPICS, spectrum-efficient solutions can be developed that increase the effective reach and coverage, flexibility and reliability of public safety communications by using a true network of networks. This approach utilizes P25 and non-P25 radio networks and devices, IP devices such as PCs, laptops and IP phones, utilizing wireless, broadband, fixed and satellite networks and telephony devices such as desk phones and cell phones. The power of the network of networks helps enable first responders to have the flexibility and tools they need for effective response and most importantly, allows public safety agencies to extend and modernize their existing radio networks so they work together with other existing and future communications networks and devices.

Today, Cisco IPICS helps enable highly secure, interoperable communications between disparate P25 and non-P25 radio networks using IP technology. At the same time, it extends communications beyond just radios using open IP standards to include any authorized client device that supports voice. As customers deploy radio networks supporting the P25 ISSI, Cisco IPICS will allow public safety organizations to communicate with legacy radio systems that use other frequencies and other technologies. When connecting one P25 system to another, the P25 ISSI will deliver end-to-end feature transparency and user roaming.

"P25 ISSI is an essential protocol for open standards interoperability between P25 radio systems," says Shmuel Shaffer, general manager of Cisco’s safety and security systems business unit. "The combination of the P25 ISSI protocol with IP-based open standards solutions such as Cisco IPICS is vital to achieve broader public safety communications interoperability. With the P25 ISSI and Cisco IPICS, users can have the best of both worlds. They will be able to tie together P25 and non-P25 radio systems in a robust way, communicate beyond the boundaries of radio systems with telephony and Internet devices and have the ability to support future migration and interoperability requirements at a fraction of the cost of a forklift upgrade."

Interoperability with P25 radio systems is a key requirement of the Public Safety Interoperable Communications grant program announced last month by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration. This $968 million grant program is specifically targeted to advanced IP-based technologies that will improve the interoperability of public safety communications such as those Cisco is demonstrating at APCO, including Cisco IPICS, Cisco Unified Communications and IP-based wireless mobility solutions.

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