Royal Berkshire Ambulance NHS Trust Leads The Way in Satellite Communications

12/06/2008

With technology advancing at a rapid rate, there are more and more opportunities for the UK's Emergency Services to use new equipment and skills to improve their operations - with speed and ease of communication becoming a key issue.

Whether that technology is employed to help arrive at the scene of an emergency quicker, deal with whatever is placed before them more efficiently, or enable communication between crews at an emergency scene - nothing need to be left to chance when lives are at stake.

Now, Royal Berkshire Ambulance NHS Trust is leading the way in the UK with its use of satellite communications - a technology expected to be the major focus of many Emergency Service organisations during 2006.

Royal Berkshire is one of an ever-growing list of Emergency Services in the UK to be working alongside Excelerate Technology, using the company's products and services to ensure that the communications process at the scene of any emergency is as fast and efficient as possible.

Having already equipped an Incident Command Unit with Excelerate's market-leading equipment, the Trust has recently added an Incident Support Vehicle (ISV) to its fleet. It now, therefore, has two fully-equipped operational command units fitted with Excelerate's transportable broadband satellite solutions - enabling real time, secure and fast access to incident critical information as if sat at a workstation at headquarters.

Built into a Landrover Discovery to offer rapid response and to tackle any congestion that the fiercest rush-hour could provide, Excelerate's pioneering solutions enable the ISV to communicate via a satellite link to Command and Control - providing e-mail, voice over IP (VOIP) telephony, VHF/UHF radio communications and a direct wireless link.

James Amos, Emergency Planning Officer at the Royal Berkshire Ambulance NHS Trust explained: "We are delighted to have added this second vehicle to assist our current Incident Command Unit (ICU) and strengthen our communications at any incident.

"With the two vehicles in operation we are able to stay in complete contact with Command and Control regardless of location and in spite of the circumstances that we face - and all via a fast and secure broadband satellite link.

"Communication plays a pivotal role at the scene of an emergency, and without Excelertate's equipment on board I feel we could be left in a compromising position. Between the two vehicles we have gained video streaming from site to a secure website, VOIP telephony as well as constant and high speed secure access to incident-critical files and information on the headquarters' network."

Cheltenham-based Excelerate Technology, soon to move into its International Headquarters near Cardiff in South Wales, is the only company of its kind in the world to supply its very own Virtual Private Network (TSBV) hardware, e2work. This allows the Trust, along with many Fire and Police Services across the UK, the ability to gain a totally secure link which is essential when incident-critical information is being transferred or downloaded via satellite.

Martin Saunders, Sales Director at Excelerate, added: "James (Amos) is very keen on making sure that emergency planning and risk assessment is backed up with the best technology. We have supplied and installed the technology to enable the Trust to gain a secure and fast broadband satellite link on both vehicles, so the people of Berkshire can rest assured that their Trust is working for them with the very best facilities."

James continued: "We were the first Ambulance Trust in the UK to deploy the satellite technology supplied by Excelerate earlier this year (2005) and it soon became apparent that if we were to use the services of any other vehicle - i.e. the ISV - it would not only benefit from broadband satellite access but, in fact, be seen as a necessity."

Excelerate can be contacted for a free demonstration, at your premises in its Mobile Demonstration Unit on 0845 65 85 747 or info@excelerate.info