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New public safety comms standards body announced

A new organisation focusing on standards in broadband critical communications has been launched, in the form of the Public Safety Technology Alliance (PSTA).

According to a statement, the PSTA will focus on the development of open standards as well as facilitating interoperability. It is comprised of “a broad representation of telecommunications and technology industry leaders, and federal, state and local public safety officials.”

Initial membership includes AT&T, JVCKenwood, Microsoft, Secured Communications, Sonim Technologies, TRX Systems, and Verizon.

Speaking of the role of the new organisation, a spokesperson said: “The PSTA's mission is to accelerate the conformance of open and standards-compliant technology, and select those standards that will offer public safety a safe, secure and interoperable framework for the next generation of communications tools.

“It will provide helpful guidance to industry for the implementation and testing of technical specifications for applications, handsets, connected devices, and cloud applications and storage.”

Founding PSTA member and Sonim chief executive officer Bob Plaschke said: “The PSTA is a critical next step in ensuring wireless interoperability for public safety and we look forward to making significant contributions by bringing the public safety community and industry together to create a public safety focused framework of open standards.”