On March 2, 2010, the Federal Communications Commission held a forum to discuss the development of a national Emergency Response Interoperability Center (ERIC). The meeting was held in Washington, DC and was attended by members of the FCC, Department of Homeland Security, NIST, and a variety of private sector companies. The goal of the forum was to discuss the concept paper that the FCC had released on ERIC, and to field any questions or concerns industry players had on the development of this center. A majority of the questions/concerns centered on standards and the technical and operational framework of ERIC. While others had concerns on how this center will account for emerging technologies and who will be the key stakeholders.

The proposed primary mission of ERIC, as stated in the concept paper, is to establish a technical and operational framework that will ensure nationwide operability and interoperability from the outset in deployment and operation of the 700 MHz public safety broadband wireless network. While agencies are in the process of rebanding their radios to narrowband due to FCC regulation, there has been little work done in the field of regulation and framework development for agencies that plan to be interoperable with neighboring agencies.

While there were many questions asked, a few notable ones stuck out. The first concern was that ERIC would be duplicating work already done by other agencies/associations in the area of standards development. The second concern was that local agencies might be misrepresented in the development of a national framework. The third concern was that the Advisory Board for ERIC does not include everyone involved in emergency response, and should be expanded.

Overall, this forum was helpful in understanding the variables involved in developing an Emergency Response Interoperability Center. As Jaime Barnett, FCC Chief of Public Safety and Homeland Security, said, "We only get one chance at this...one swing. We need to get it right." In order to get it right, the FCC will need to take into consideration all the questions and concerns that were raised during this forum.

The Analyst Recap can be found HERE.