By Doug Harder, FirstNet State Plans

FirstNet welcomed the opportunity to participate in the Tennessee Interoperable Communications Conference on August 5-6, 2015 in Cool Springs, Tennessee. Participation was encouraging with about 150 attendees representing 34 agencies during the two-day conference. Participating agencies included state, county, municipal, and university law enforcement; EMS; fire; rescue squads; state and local Emergency Management Agencies (EMAs); the state health department; the state department of transportation; industry representatives; and public safety dispatchers.

Conference organizers, mindful of the FirstNet data collection effort currently underway, provided the opportunity for stakeholders to get involved in the data collection process for Tennessee. This included a location where attendees were invited to provide input to Tennessee's coverage objective map in support of the FirstNet data collection efforts. About 25 agencies reviewed the draft coverage objective map with about 30 modifications made to the map. Several agencies determined that the baseline coverage objectives provided by FirstNet were accurate.

The conference also provided an opportunity for participants to broaden their engagement, with four attendees volunteering to join the state's technical working group and one requesting to have representation on the governance committee. Sgt. Ehrin Ehlert, who is the Tennessee single point of contact (SPOC), said everything “really 'clicked' during this conference and in no small part is due to the data collection phase. It gives public safety 'ownership' in the network."

Agency presentations provided during the conference described how the nationwide public safety broadband network (NPSBN) would benefit their operations, the Tennessee Consolidated Network for Emergency Communications and Technology (TNCNECT) team, and FirstNet. The TNCNECT Team will continue the data collection effort with visits to several counties in the near future.

I would like to thank the conference organizers for the opportunity to participate in the event. FirstNet looks forward to continuing to work with the Volunteer State on the NPSBN.

Thanks,
Doug

Visit the TNCNECT website to view presentations from the conference.