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SEARCH Partners with APCO to Offer Broadband Training to 2011 Conference

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SEARCH is partnering with APCO to provide a new training opportunity — a one-day Introduction to Broadband training course, to be held in conjunction with APCO's 77th Annual Conference & Expo in Philadelphia.

APCO — the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials - International — is holding its conference Sunday-Wednesday, August 7-10, and the broadband training is one of several pre-conference events to be held Saturday, August 6. The APCO conference is expected to draw thousands of executives, dispatchers, and technicians involved in all aspects of public safety communications.

The Introduction to Broadband course is sponsored by the National Institute for Emergency Communications (NIEC), which is funded by a congressionally sponsored grant through the Department of Homeland Security Office of Emergency Communications. SEARCH operates the NIEC and will conduct the training.

"Our training partnership with APCO is exciting and we look forward to this opportunity to participate in the 77th Annual Conference," noted SEARCH Public Safety Director Doug Onhaizer. "Attendees will gain insight into broadband technologies and current broadband issues that they can take back to their agencies and put to use."

Broadband — high-speed mobile data networks — has been identified as an emerging technological capability with significant near- and long-term impacts on public safety agencies nationwide. Whereas public safety has used wired and fixed-link wireless broadband data services, the world of true mobile broadband services is new and developing at a rapid pace.

Recent national events, including the allocation and basic operational rules for spectrum dedicated for public safety, present opportunities and challenges for practitioners. These developments also provide a distinct potential for sharing spectrum, services, facilities, and capability with commercial service providers. The potential to develop systems that facilitate interoperability to support multi-discipline and multi-regional responders is unprecedented. But developing a strategy to manage this migration to broadband is a complex process facing the public safety communications community.

For more details on this training, and to register, see www.search.org/programs/safety/apco/2011/