Compliance is easy, according to Lev Deich, VP of Operations & Delivery, Intrado’s Enterprise 911 Solutions. In a recent interview with UC Today, he told me, the United States is highly regulated when it comes to being 911 compliant for enterprise-grade unified communications platforms. “Companies need to meet federal requirements, and the pandemic’s only augmented that need.”
On August 1, 2019, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) adopted rules to implement Kari’s Law and Section 506 of RAY BAUM’S Act to help Americans reach 911 services more quickly. These new federal regulatory obligations mean that enterprises operating Multi-Line Telephone Services (MLTS) put in place after February 16, 2020, are required to provide the following:
- Direct access to 911 without dialing any prefix, postfix or trunk access codes
- Notification to a central location at the facility or elsewhere whenever 911 is dialed within the enterprise, as specified by Kari’s Law
- A dispatchable location with every 911 call by January 6, 2021, for fixed devices and January 6, 2022, for non-fixed devices
“Aside from being a federal obligation, employees, staff, students, and visitors in work or school environments take for granted that 911 will work and that emergency services will find them quickly, should they ever need help”
Back in April, Intrado announced the release of an Enhanced 911 (E911) solution for Microsoft Teams, with direct routing. By coupling Intrado’s E911 solution with Microsoft’s Dynamic E911 feature, enterprises can route and deliver 911 calls along with dispatchable location information to the right emergency communication center without any mishaps along the way, Deich shared during our time together.
The solution, I’m told, extends support for on-premises as well as remote data locations, and it’s plug-and-play, so no need for provisioning. Teams’ new location tracking feature, paired with Intrado’s E911 solution completes an end-to-end emergency solution and wanted to take a look at the tool. So, I did, and here are some of the features I found helpful, especially if you’re considering a 911-compliant solution for your organization:
- NO manual provisioning
- Location information gets extracted during the 911 call and provided for the proper Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP)
- It’s compatible with all Microsoft certified Session Border Controllers (SBCs) for Teams, with Direct Routing
- There’s no additional software or hardware required
- Any 911 calls without a location get routed to Intrado’s U.S.-based Emergency Call Relay Center (ECRC)
- Enhanced security notification features available if deployed with Intrado’s Emergency Gateway (EGW), including on-screen alerts as well as multi-party emergency bridging
Throughout our interview, Deich stressed the importance of compliance, and he is right to bring it up. Non-compliance comes at a hefty cost to businesses and organizations that fail to comply with current U.S. federal law. The law states, “Businesses that knowingly and wilfully remain non-compliant may be subject to fines of up to $10,000 as well as additional penalties (of up to $500) for each day they are found not in compliance.”
The cloud-based global technology company has sales and operations in the United States, Canada, Europe, the Middle East, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and South America.
