Case Study: Houston-Galveston Area Council Regional VoIP Enhanced 9‑1-1 Network

Implementing VoIP E9-1-1 services to 23 PSAPs in 8 Counties

 

The Client

Houston-Galveston Area Council (H-GAC), Texas. The HGAC is the region-wide voluntary association of 133 local governments and local elected officials in the 13-county Gulf Coast Planning region of Texas. Its service area is 12,500 square miles and contains almost 5.4 million people. H-GAC provides 9-1-1 equipment and engineering services to 23 PSAPs in the participating counties.

 

The Project

H-GAC selected RCC to develop a plan to implement VoIP Enhanced 9-1-1 services to the 23 supported PSAPs in eight participating counties. 

 

RCC's Role

RCC provided many important services for the H-GAC project, including:

• Developed facility specifications to allow installation and support of VoIP 9-1-1 systems. The specifications include equipment space requirements, AC power requirements and distribution, UPS power loads, HVAC BTU heat loads, grounding, lightning protection and general facility security requirements.
• Developed a facility inspection checklist and visited each of the 23 PSAPs to determine capabilities and areas that need improvement.
• Designed specifications for VoIP Enhanced 9-1-1 systems with emphasis on reliability and distributed gateways and servers.
• Determine PSAPs that are appropriate candidates to become server support locations.
• Created plans for a robust VoIP Network connecting the PSAP’s and multiple Tandem Selective Routers serving the widespread PSAPs.