A recent ABI Research study says the overall Voice over WiFi market is expected to enjoy steady growth through 2012. ABI forecasts that the number of access points used to handle voice traffic will experience a compound annual growth rate of 93% during this period, reaching nearly 56,000 access points by 2012.
Most Voice over Wi-Fi handsets don’t use cell towers or GPS for triangulation. That means Enhanced 911 (E911) can’t automatically associate a physical address with the phone number. The Public Safety Answering Point — the emergency call center hub — needs location information to route calls and direct first responders.
RedSky Technologies says they have a solution. Their E911 Manager interfaces with IP PBXs and links to the WiFi Location Controllers in the WiFi Network.
When a WiFi handset registers with the network, it concurrently registers the MAC address of the phone with the PBX and E911 Manager. It then polls the Location Controller to find which access point the phone is registered with and updates the call server with the correct emergency line identification number (ELIN) for that access point.
E911 Manager updates the call server with a new ELIN every time a phone moves from one access point to another.
Fourteen states have now enacted E911 legislation requiring enterprises over a certain size, occupying multiple floors of a building or those purchasing a new PBX to implement E911 to protect their employees and visitors. RedSky says it is the leading provider of automated E911 software to the enterprise.
