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Samsung Taps AWS for Next-Gen First-Responder Communications
Samsung this week demonstrated video calling using its emerging LTE-based communications platform for emergency personnel and the Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud.
Engineers at Samsung's lab in Korea successfully made a video call while running Samsung's MCPTX platform on AWS -- an industry first, according to a press release Monday.
MCPTX stands for "mission-critical push-to-tallk/voice/video." It describes a communication system designed specifically for public safety personnel and first responders. Before the advent of MCPTX, first responders communicated with each other using land mobile radio (LMR) systems like band radios and walkie-talkies. MCPTX systems, which leverage LTE networks, are an evolution from that comparatively analog technology. Unlike LMR systems, which are designed primarily for voice transmissions, MCPTX systems also allow responders to transmit videos, files and images to each other.
Samsung made the case for more widespread adoption of MCPTX systems over LMR in this 2019 whitepaper:
[MCPTX] unlocks new opportunities for interoperability between devices, services and networks; greater potential for service growth, iteration and evolution; and vastly more efficient use of available network resources. In aggregate, this ensures that standards-based MCPTX and PS-LTE [public safety LTE] solutions can deliver superior ownership, service and user experiences as compared to proprietary or hybrid solutions as well as the various closed-box, over-the-top applications that have appeared on the market in recent years.
Hosting its MCPTX platform on the AWS cloud has added benefits, according to Samsung. "This approach enables rapid deployment and improves scalability and flexibility of public safety networks for operators, by reducing the time spent on in-house data center deployment and allowing them to adjust the usage of resources as needed," the company said in its press release. "Also, the service can seamlessly failover to another part of the cloud as needed, increasing overall reliability."
Samsung's MCPTX platform comprises various software, applications and hardware (the device used in the video-calling demonstration was Samsung's Galaxy XCover FieldPro) designed for first responders. Organizations have the option to deploy it either on-premises or on AWS.
"This demonstration of Samsung's MCPTX solution on Amazon's cloud platform brings the latest innovations to the public safety sector, and the two companies will continue to collaborate on developing technologies to provide new and reliable services to customers," said Amir Rao, AWS' head of global solution portfolio and tech alliances.