PSTA releases its initial MCX recommendations

The Public Safety Technology Alliance (PSTA) Mission Critical Push-to-Talk/Video/Data (MCPTX) technical subcommittee has released a report that includes its initial recommendations for public safety and industry.

The report is intended to give public safety agencies an idea as to when each of the mission-critical features that are being standardised in 3GPP can be reasonably expected to be commercially available, so that they can factor this into their procurement strategies.

As PSTA considers additional, relevant, information provided within the MCPTX subcommittee, it will update its recommendations as necessary. The subcommittee’s recommendations are based on input and ongoing discussion between and among PSTA industry and public safety membership, along with publicly available standards and related information.

The MCPTX Subcommittee was established to provide a recommended set of criteria that fosters and encourages the delivery of standards-compliant mission critical push to talk, data and video platforms based on the 3GPP standards that have been implemented to support public safety.

“Public safety is excited about the imminent implementation of MCPTT capabilities. The open standards-based approach to this important solution helps to ensure that first responders can count on the ongoing innovation for critical voice communications over LTE”, noted chief Mike Duyck, PSTA board member.

“We are proud of the work undertaken by the PSTA in this critical area, and look forward to the continuing progress on MCPTT, with several milestones for public safety to be completed early next year, as well as the results of the 4th ETSI Plugtests™ in Finland this fall,” said PSTA CEO TJ Kennedy.

“Implementation of consistent standards for MCX globally is of critical importance, and the PSTA input provides valuable insight into public safety requirements. TCCA advocates open standards for all critical communications and our collective success is an international effort,” said Tony Gray, TCCA chief executive.