NG911 Interoperability
Interoperability—the ability of disparate systems and the components of those systems to work together seamlessly—is not a new challenge in emergency communications. But it’s one the 911 community continues to address, finding new and better ways to make progress toward a nationwide “system of systems.” Here you’ll find more information about this work at the National, State and local level.
National Projects & Programs
NG911 Interoperability Task Force
Conformance to relevant standards and interoperability of Next Generation 911 (NG911) systems and associated components is critical to ensuring effective emergency-response communications. This will require testing to ensure a consistent, interoperable interpretation of standards by vendors and the 911 community.
This task force was created in summer 2022 to establish a cost-effective and equitable conformance test program with a multi-stakeholder governance structure. Members of the task force include the Department of Homeland Security Science & Technology Directorate and Texas A&M University, along with stakeholders from the National 911 Program, National Emergency Number Association (NENA), National Association of State 911 Administrators (NASNA), Industry Council for Emergency Response Technologies (iCERT), and the NG911 Interoperability Oversight Commission.
You can learn more about the task force and find its charter, a full list of committee members, upcoming events, and an application to volunteer at the NG9-1-1 Interoperability Taskforce page. For a current list of standards for Enhanced and NG911, visit 911.gov’s Standard's page.
Next Generation 911 and Emergency Responder Broadband Network (ERBN) Interconnection
The technical means for the interconnection of Next Generation 911 (NG911) and Emergency Responder Broadband Networks is not well understood, established or widely deployed. To address this issue, the National 911 Program collaborated with a group of public and private sector representatives to articulate the issue of NG911/PSERBN connection and establish a list of goals to facilitate actions that actively support its interconnection by all members of the 911 and ERBN stakeholder communities. Learn about the 911 Program’s progress with public and private stakeholders on this topic.
NG911 Roadmap: Connecting Systems Nationwide
Achieving a nationwide “system of systems” for Next Generation 911 will require states to achieve specific goals in five categories: business/governance, technology, data, operations, and education as identified in the 2019 NG911 Roadmap Report. This project monitors and reports progress against goals within each category. See the latest progress.
The National 911 Program and California Office of Emergency Services: Next Generation 9-1-1 (NG9-1-1) Lessons Learned
This report, released in November 2022, details the experience of the California Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) in its work thus far in transitioning the state’s 449 Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs) from a legacy 911 environment an Internet Protocol (IP)-based NG911 model that conforms to the National Emergency Number Association’s i3 standard. Recommendations and key takeaways are shared for requirements, contract and project management, design and testing. Read the final report.