Harris Corp. expects to solidify its foothold in Lynchburg with several public safety radio innovations it announced Monday.
In conjunction with a public safety communications trade show in Houston, Harris announced a mobile high-speed Internet product for first responders and a new generation of its OpenSky two-way radio system.
The new products are not expected to boost the number of Harris employees in the Lynchburg area, but “each one of those will be favorable in terms of keeping jobs,” said Steve Frackleton, director of marketing and communications. “This is keeping us competitive and keeping the folks in Lynchburg very busy.”
Mobile broadband data access is an emerging emphasis in wireless technology for first responders. Recently the Federal Communications Commission gave permission for public safety organizations in several regions to begin constructing wireless systems for broadband access on the 700 megahertz band. Just last week, Motorola, a Harris competitor, announced a contract to build the nation’s first public safety mobile broadband network in the San Francisco area.
On Monday Harris announced the VIDA Broadband LTE product. VIDA is a radio communications technology developed by Tyco Electronics wireless systems in Lynchburg and Massachusetts. Harris bought that business in 2009.
Adding broadband capabilities to VIDA will give those responding to accidents or crimes access to databases, streaming video and other media that could help them respond, Frackleton said.
Frackleton gave the example of police officers responding to a bank robbery. “This would bring the technology for them to see the surveillance video that’s being sent by the bank … in their cruisers as they’re responding to the scene,” he said.
OpenSky2 expands on Harris’s existing OpenSky technology, which is used in Pennsylvania and suburbs of Detroit and is being installed in Las Vegas. It is a digital two-way radio system also used by public safety agencies.
The new OpenSky provides more reliable coverage when radio units switch from one tower to another, Frackleton said. It also provides better voice quality and background noise suppression, according to a Harris news release.
Harris employs about 600 people in the Lynchburg area. Last week Harris announced it would hire about 100 people in the Harrisonburg area. Frackleton said that is for a part of Harris’s business unrelated to Lynchburg.
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