High levels of expertise and operational understanding are of course critical factors
when it comes to choosing a supplier. This was certainly the case with Thames Valley
Police, the UK’s largest non-metropolitan force, when it started looking for a cost
effective upgrade to the existing GPRS network connections used by Forward Command
Units. According to Roger Bird, Senior Mobile Technology Engineer for Thames Valley
Police: “Having had previous experience of satellite communications with another
supplier, we were sceptical about what could be achieved. However, after talking
to Excelerate Technology, it quickly became apparent that the company understood
exactly what we wanted to achieve and could provide advanced solutions that were
specifically tailored to the needs of blue light services.”
Thames Valley Police now uses a Transportable Broadband Satellite VPN solution and
wireless DECT phones installed in a communications support vehicle that has delivered
significant improvements in the way that Silver Command Centres communicate regardless
of where they are located.
It provides WAN flexibility with direct, secure links to the force infrastructure
as well as standalone LAN connectivity enabling planned or spontaneous Command Centres
to be located in buildings or temporary accommodation. Thames Valley Police’s vehicle
is regularly deployed at major events across Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire
such as Royal Ascot and other Royal events in and around Windsor. Excelerate Technology
maintains the system and supplies airtime through its own Virtual Network Operator
managed solution.
“Covering such a large geographical area means that we place a lot of emphasis
on our communications structure and we don’t want to compromise that in any way.
Excelerate Technology provides us with the highest level of support and any technical
issues are always rapidly resolved enabling us to maintain a high state of operational
readiness at all times,”
Roger Bird, Senior Mobile Technology Engineer, Thames Valley Police.