By Michael Maiorana, Senior Vice President, Verizon Enterprise Solutions – Public Sector
On August 25, Hurricane Harvey made landfall in Texas, leaving a trail of destruction and unprecedented flooding behind it. During and immediately following the storm, more than 98 percent of Verizon’s wireless network was still in service.
A week later, our network performance was back to business-as-usual levels. Two weeks after Harvey, Hurricane Irma roared through the Florida Keys and up the coast, causing severe damage and leaving tens of thousands of people in that state without basic services. Again, more than 90 percent of our network facilities were operational after the storm.
One week later, it was business as usual in Florida as well, in terms of network performance.
And earlier this month, a series of devastating wildfires tore through areas of northern California, destroying hundreds of homes and forcing the evacuation of thousands of people. Within days, we’d restored more than 98 percent of network coverage in the affected areas.
That kind of rapid response is the result of careful planning, the ability to deploy mobile cell sites and other assets quickly, and having the best engineers in the industry ready to move in after the emergency passes to maintain service.
Importance of resilient, reliable communications when first responders need it most
These two massive storms and wildfire outbreaks in heavily populated areas reinforce the importance of a resilient, reliable communications network for public safety, first responders and relief organizations.
Public safety expects and demands a network as prepared and tested as the men and women who keep our communities safe every day and in the face of a major emergency like Harvey, Irma, and the California fires.
Based on best practices and guidelines included in the National Public Safety Telecommunications Council report, “Defining Public Safety Grade Systems and Facilities,” the Verizon network meets those guidelines in almost every aspect and actually exceeds many of them.
Continuously Enhancing the Network
It starts with our commitment to building, maintaining and enhancing the nation’s largest and most reliable 4G LTE network. We invest billions of dollars in our network every year – more than $111 billion since 2000 – to grow our network, increase capacity, and introduce the latest technologies and new services.
Those investments include hardening our network from top to bottom – from switching centers to cell sites – taking lessons learned from previous storms and building “super switches” in the Southeast capable of withstanding category 5 winds, and earthquake-resistant facilities in the West, and installing redundant data systems, robust backup power capabilities, rigorous security measures, and ongoing fiber deployments nationwide.
We also continue to densify our network and enhance our technology and capacity, improving our infrastructure and the latest software platforms designed and built to maintain connectivity, even when commercial power interruptions and other factors affect the performance of individual sites.
Backup Power Strategy Critical
Every one of Verizon’s thousands of cell sites and more than 130 switching centers – the nerve centers of our local networks – is outfitted with backup batteries and/or generators to maintain service if commercial power goes out. Prior to storms like Harvey and Irma, we strategically stage refueling tankers and portable generators in locations where they can be quickly deployed into affected areas as soon as it’s safe, to make sure our sites stay on the air until commercial power is restored.
Then there’s our fleet of portable assets including cells on wheels (COWs), cells on light trucks (COLTs), satellite picocells on trailers (SPOTs) and portable generators that we can rapidly deploy to enhance or restore wireless coverage in an area until permanent service is restored.
And speaking of restoring service, our most valuable “assets” are our people – the dedicated technology experts and boots on the ground who go into these affected areas as soon as it’s safe to begin the hands-on work of repairing facilities and restoring service. They’re the most dedicated team of engineers in the industry.
Those same standards for resiliency, performance and security will be built into our dedicated public safety network – which will consist of a dedicated a network core that will operate separate from our commercial network core to give public safety its own network for responding to emergencies large and small. And when they need it, they’ll have access to priority services – including wireless priority service over VoLTE (voice over LTE) and preemption – at no additional charge.
Verizon has been supporting public safety nationwide for decades. That commitment won’t change. And the network they rely on today will only get stronger as it evolves tomorrow.
READER OPINION DISCLAIMER: This section allows others to contribute their opinions. The content does not necessarily represent the views of, or endorsement by Inside Towers.
Published October 25, 2017
Reader Interactions