Guest Blog post by Ed Parkinson, Director of Government Affairs for FirstNet

I had the opportunity to speak yesterday on a panel at the Association of California Cities – Orange County 2014 Infrastructure Summit. The theme of this year's event was "Strategic Innovation, Renewed Investment," and it was attended by about 200 elected officials, city staff, and business and non-profit leaders from throughout the Southern California region. It serves as Orange County’s annual regional infrastructure conference.

Joining me on the panel moderated by Scott Longhurst of the California Wireless Association (CalWA) were Mike Fitch of the Wireless Infrastructure Association, Jim Brady from Kaiser Permanente Orange County and Robert Stoffel from the Orange County Sheriff’s Department. In addition, California State Transportation Agency Undersecretary Brian Annis, California State Department of Water Resources Director Mark Cowin, and Indianapolis, Indiana Mayor Gregory Ballard were the keynote speakers at the summit.

These types of events are important components of FirstNet's outreach efforts as they enable us to get a first-hand sense of key local governmental issues. I was pleased to be part of such a diverse panel that covered a variety of technological challenges facing local governments. I talked about how the deployment of a public safety broadband network will enable local first responders to work in a more secure environment, confident that the technology they need to carry out their mission will be ready for use any time of any day.

I briefly covered the vision that we have at FirstNet and what is coming in the months ahead as the organization continues to mature and grow. We have a number of important developments that will be announced at the Board meeting in Colorado next week, and it's shaping up to be a very exciting and rewarding summer for FirstNet and its partners.

Thank you again to all those involved in making the ACC-OC’s 5th Annual City Infrastructure Summit a success and if there are others out there who would like FirstNet to attend events such as these please don’t hesitate to reach out.

-Ed