Harris Corporation Reacts to FirstNet Board Appointments

Harris Corporation congratulates the 12 appointees named to the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) Board by the Department of Commerce Acting Secretary Rebecca Blank.
 
“We commend the NTIA on its selection of these noteworthy FirstNet board members, who all possess a deep bench of experience and admiration from peers in their respective fields,” said Steve Marschilok, president, Harris Public Safety and Professional Communications. “This is a great sign of progress in building out the NPSBN. Now, we turn our attention to supporting the FirstNet board as it takes on the immense task of creating an interoperable nationwide network – one  that will leverage technologies of multiple vendors to deliver a seamless, secure, next generation broadband user experience for our country’s first responders.”
 
FirstNet, an independent authority within NTIA, is charged by law to take “all actions necessary” to build, deploy, and operate the future nationwide public safety broadband network (NPSBN). With the announcement of board appointments, FirstNet can begin its operations and execution of its duties. Appointed members who will serve on FirstNet alongside the Secretary of Homeland Security, Attorney General of the United States, and Director of Office of Management and Budget are:

  • Tim Bryan, CEO, National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative
  • Charles “Chuck” Dowd, Deputy Chief, New York City Police Department
  • F. Craig Farrill, Wireless telecommunications executive
  • Paul Fitzgerald, Sheriff, Story County, Iowa
  • Samuel “Sam” Ginn, Telecommunications executive
  • Jeffrey Johnson, Fire Chief (retired); former Chair, State Interoperability Council, State of Oregon; CEO, Western Fire Chiefs Association
  • William Keever, Telecommunications executive (retired)
  • Kevin McGinnis, Chief/CEO, North East Mobile Health Services
  • Ed Reynolds, Telecommunications executive (retired)
  • Susan Swenson, Telecommunications/technology executive
  • Teri Takai, Government information technology expert; former CIO, states of Michigan and California
  • Wellington Webb, Founder, Webb Group International; former Mayor, Denver, Colorado

In February 2012, Congress enacted the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012. Within it, landmark provisions were developed to create a much-needed nationwide interoperable broadband network for public safety officials.  In March 2012, the FCC appointed members to its Technical Advisory Board for First Responder Interoperability, a temporary group tasked with developing recommended minimum technical requirements to ensure a national level of interoperability for the NPSBN. Members of the Interoperability Board — which included Harris Corporation’s Dr. Dennis Martinez, Chief Technology Officer for RF Communications Division — submitted their recommendations to the FCC in May 2012.

Harris’ recent public safety LTE activity includes conducting the first nationwide public safety LTE demonstration; working with police departments in Miami-Dade, FL and Las Vegas, NV on  temporary LTE “pilot” programs; and successfully completing Phase 1 of the Public Safety Communications Research (PSCR) Program LTE Demonstration Network Test Plan.

 

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