The Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) sent a letter to Congressman William Lacy Clay (D-Mo.) and Congressman Dennis J. Kucinich (D-Ohio) on April 20, responding to the Government Accountability Office's (GAO) report entitled "FIRST RESPONDERS: Much Work Remains to Improve Communications Interoperability" (GAO-07-301). Project 25 (P25) is an interoperability suite of standards for digital two-way wireless communications products and systems. The P25 standards are created by a committee of manufacturers, public safety agencies and state and federal communications professionals to provide detailed standards for the design of communications systems so all purchasers of P25-compatible equipment can communicate with each other. See the details in the P25 letter.

As the publisher of the P25 standards, TIA takes its role in improving the technology that supports first responders very seriously and agrees with the GAO's conclusion that "a comprehensive suite of standards such as Project 25 is critical to achieving interoperability among different manufacturers' products." However, TIA believes that the report contains a number of misleading statements that could lead to an inaccurate perception of the current state of interoperability.

In its letter, TIA highlighted that the P25 effort has resulted in the publication of 125 documents that support interoperability for public safety networks and that these documents "have been endorsed by numerous agencies including the Federal Communications Commission, the National Communications System, the Department of Defense, the Department of Homeland Security, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, the Department of the Treasury, the Department of Interior and the Department of Justice."

TIA contested the GAO's assertion that "a lack of compliance testing has limited product interoperability." While TIA is troubled over many of the GAO's findings, the letter concluded by reiterating TIA's commitment to improving communications interoperability at all levels of government. For more information, contact Danielle Jafari or call her at (703) 907-7734.

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If you are interested in participating in the development of the below standards or in any of the TIA standards developing process please complete an online application at http://www.tiaonline.org/standards/join/apply.cfm.

New Project Numbers:

Project Number 3-0280, New TSB, Test Source Launch Conditions Guidelines for Testing Installed Multimode Cabling – if interested contact Steve Swanson, Corning, Inc., at 607.974.4252, or via email at swansonse@corning.com

NEW STANDARDS PROPOSALS BALLOTS (ANSI):

Standards Proposal No. 3-4426-AD10-D, proposed addendum of an existing TIA Standard, Transmission Performance Specifications for 4-Pair 100 Ohm Augmented Category 6 Cabling, (if approved, to be published as TIA-568-B.2-10)

NEW PROJECT NUMBERS BALLOTS:

Project Number 3-0280, proposed creation of a new TIA standard, Test source launch condition guidelines for testing installed multimode cabling, (if approved, to be published as TSB-178)

Project Number 3-3629-UGR, proposed upgrade to a TIA standard, Project 25 Trunking Procedures, (if approved, to be published as TIA-102.AABD)

PUBLISHED DOCUMENTS AVAILABLE

AMERICAN NATIONAL STANDARDS

J-STD-025-B-2, Lawfully Authorized Electronic Surveillance (LAES) – Addendum 2 – Support for Carrier Identity

TIA-1063, Telephony Aspects of MLTS and Packet-based Equipment, including VoIP Analog Telephone Port Requirements for Packet-based User Premises Terminal Adapters

TIA-912-B, Telecommunications - IP Telephony Equipment Voice Gateway Transmission Requirements

TIA-571-B, Telecommunications Telephone Terminal Equipment Electrical, Thermal, Mechanical Environmental Performance Requirements

TIA ONLY DOCUMENTS/INTERIM STANDARDS

TIA-102.BACA-1, Project 25 Inter-RF Subsystem Interface Messages and Procedures, Addendum 1,- Erratum 1 to Fix Errors and Omissions

TIA-102.BACA-2, Project 25 Inter-RF Subsystem Interface Messages and Procedures, -Addendum 2, Trunked Console ISSI

TIA-102.BACA-3, Project 25 Inter-RF Subsystem Interface Messages and Procedures for Voice and Mobility Management Services, Addendum 3, - Supplementary Data

TIA-102.CADA, Project 25 Fixed Station Interface Conformance Test Procedure”

TIA-102.BACD, “Project 25 Inter-RF Subsystem Interface (ISSI) Messages and Procedures for Supplementary Data”

TIA-102.CACA, “Project 25 Inter-RF Subsystem Interface (ISSI) Measurement Methods for Voice Services”

TIA-102.CACB, “Project 25 Inter-RF Subsystem Interface (ISSI) Performance Recommendations for Voice Services”

TIA-1099, “Forward Link Only Air Interface Specification for Terrestrial Mobile Multimedia Multicast

To check the status of any ballot (PN or SP), go to the TIA web page in the Standards Section to obtain current information. The link for PN ballots is:

http://www.tiaonline.org/standards/sfg/pn_report.cfm or for SP ballots

http://www.tiaonline.org/standards/committees/ballots/sp_report.cfm

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