PacketHop Teams with Police Department to Deploy New Jersey's First 4.9 GHz Broadband Mobile-Mesh Network
PacketHop Communications System enhances officer communication, coordination, video surveillance and security - resulting in significant cost savings
REDWOOD CITY, Calif. - Jan. 29, 2007 - PacketHop, Inc., the leader in instant broadband mobile-mesh communications systems, today announced that the Lakewood, N.J., Police Department has purchased the PacketHop Communications System™ to enhance communications during patrols, provide surveillance during tactical operations and manage scenes during emergencies and events. The police department initially deployed PacketHop at Wingstock '06, a music festival held in Sept., which was the first successful 4.9 gigahertz (GHz) broadband mobile-mesh network deployment in the state of New Jersey.
"PacketHop significantly enhances the Lakewood Police Department's existing communications capabilities - improving the network's reliability, interoperability, coverage and mobility," said Lakewood Police Chief Robert C. Lawson. "The communications system also improves officer utilization, resulting in significant cost savings. Using PacketHop during events for video surveillance in unmanned police cruisers saves the police department $3,000 per event in overtime costs."
"Wingstock marked the first successful deployment of a 4.9 GHz broadband mobile-mesh network in New Jersey," said General Bill Marshall, deputy director of the New Jersey Homeland Security Technology Systems Center at the New Jersey Institute of Technology. Marshall was one of several government representatives who observed the 4.9 GHz broadband mobile-mesh network deployment at Wingstock '06. "PacketHop has consistently demonstrated its ability to quickly deploy broadband mobile-mesh networks that enhance officer communication and coordination - increasing the safety of our first responders and our community."
During Wingstock '06, which was held at FirstEnergy Park, the Lakewood Police Department loaded the PacketHop Communications System - a software-based, infrastructure-optional mobile-mesh networking communications system - onto Datalux Tracer rugged computers in its police cruisers and Dell computers in its command post (CP). PacketHop instantly created a 4.9 GHz broadband mobile-mesh network among the police cruisers and the CP. Officers communicated and shared tactical information distributed over the network via PacketHop's Aware™ Application Suite - a fully-integrated suite of server-less multimedia communications applications that include real-time multicast video, GPS resource tracking, multimedia instant messaging and whiteboarding.
Lakewood's police cruisers were strategically positioned around FirstEnergy Park using PacketHop's GPS resource tracking, whiteboarding and multimedia instant messaging applications. Each police cruiser contained an L-3 Communications MobileVision analog video recording system. PacketHop's software converted the analog video captured by the systems into digital video and distributed it across the network via its real-time multicast video capability.
An unmanned police cruiser was positioned at a major intersection outside the park to provide surveillance and reduce speed limit violations. Police cruisers were also positioned at FirstEnergy Park's main entrances and exits to provide surveillance of police K-9 units searching attendees for explosives, and manage the flow of attendees entering and exiting the park. A laptop and camera also provided surveillance of the crowd in front of the concert's main stage. The real-time video was simultaneously streamed to the officers on the network and the CP, where scene commanders coordinated officers in the field using Aware.
Leveraging PacketHop, roughly one gigabyte of multimedia communications data was distributed among officers at the music festival. This high amount of data cannot effectively be distributed over existing narrowband technologies, which are commonly utilized by first responders to communicate.
"The Lakewood Police Department demonstrates on a daily basis that the PacketHop Communications System provides first responders with the most effective, reliable and secure communications," said Michael Howse, president and chief executive officer of PacketHop. "We're very happy that the Lakewood Police Department has recognized the benefits provided by PacketHop and chosen to deploy our communications system in the field."
For more information regarding the deployment, please visit: http://www.packethop.com/pdf/packethop_case_study-lpd.pdf.
To view an archived webinar with information on PacketHop's 4.9 GHz case studies, please click here.
About PacketHop
PacketHop is the leader in instant broadband mobile-mesh communications systems. The PacketHop Communications System delivers the freedom to network on-the-fly, and securely operate with or without access points. PacketHop also provides server-less applications including real-time multicast video, GPS positioning, instant messaging, and white boarding, in addition to supporting other Internet-based applications. PacketHop's technology and products are covered by more than 20 issued and pending patent applications. For more information on PacketHop, please visit: www.packethop.com.
United States PR Contacts:
Kevin Payne
Director of Corporate Marketing
PacketHop, Inc.
650.292.9933
kpayne@packethop.com
Joe Roualdes
A&R Partners for PacketHop
650.762.2869
jroualdes@arpartners.com
Europe PR Contacts:
Simon Corbett
Edelman for PacketHop
020.7344.1349
Simon.Corbett@edelman.com
©2006 PacketHop, Inc. PacketHop is a trademark of PacketHop, Inc. The names of other companies and their products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.