NEC Corp. successfully completed interoperability testing (IOT) for the Public Safety Communications Research (PSCR) Program's 700 MHz Public Safety Demonstration Network at the Department of Commerce Boulder Laboratories in Colorado. NEC is the first vendor in the United States to successfully complete 700 MHz small cell testing.
The completion of this testing demonstrates that NEC is fully prepared to provide equipment compatible with the network to be developed by FirstNet, an independent authority within the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) that is leading the development of a nationwide Public Safety Broadband Network (PSBN) program. This program is designed to provide a secure, reliable and dedicated public safety network for voice, data, image and video communications between public safety authorities such as police officers, fire fighters and emergency medical professionals.
NEC successfully completed the Small Cell Test Plan, which includes physical layer tests, messaging/protocol tests, application tests, and handover tests between small cells and macro cells. The company also passed S1 IOT Testing for its small cell eNodeB, along with multiple Evolved Packet Core (EPC) vendors.
"The successful completion of the PSCR small cell testing demonstrates the capability of NEC's small cell technologies to offer dynamic, high capacity as well as the ability to quickly handle continuous traffic increases at a low total cost of ownership," said Kazuya Hashimoto, Vice President and Executive General Manager, NEC Corporation. "This also demonstrates NEC's commitment to the FirstNet goal of a multi-vendor environment. We look forward to continuing our efforts towards providing a nationwide, interoperable public safety broadband network."