Being able to offer suitable mobile devices to Er-illisverkot and its public safety users is a crucial part of the Virve 2.0 development project in Finland. To learn more about the device suppliers’ current offerings and near time plans Erillisverkot published a Request for Information (RFI) in September.
The second procurement phase of the public safety network Virve's renewal started in early October, in which Erillisverkot will purchase mission critical services for the Virve 2.0 system. “Mission critical services is an entity that consists of server software running in the equipment rooms of Erillisverkot Group, applications installed on users' mobile and fixed devices and management applications related to these services," says Ari Toivonen, Development Manager of Erillisverkot Group.
The new broadband public safety network, Virve 2.0, will be available to mission critical operators in 2023. Reetta Siltasalmi-Kautto, our Service Designer and Harri Virtanen, Head of Department of Customer Relationships explain how the development is carried out in cooperation with our customers.
New opportunities open for safety operators as the Virve 2.0 public safety network begins using Elisa’s broadband 4G and 5G mobile networks. Future applications that can help rescue services and actors critical for the security of supply in the field include remote-controlled tractors used in clearing work and real-time video transmitted by drones. The first testers will begin using Virve 2.0 at the end of 2021.
The Swedish company Ericsson has centred its cyber security operations on the area of Jorvas in Kirkkonummi, Finland. Ericsson’s experts are also responsible for the reliability and security of the new Virve 2.0 broadband public safety network.
The development work concerning the broadband public safety network Virve 2.0, which is led by Erillisverkot Group is one of the most important governmental ICT project in the near future. Virve 2.0 is also a major leap at the international scale, since it makes mobile broadband services available for authorities in cooperation with the newly selected commercial partners.
Erillisverkot will acquire the broadband Virve 2.0 radio access network as a service from Elisa and the core systems from Ericsson. With this procurement, Erillisverkot will ensure the continuity of critical communications and operational capability of public safety in all situations in the future.
For the first time, the Barents Rescue exercise brought together the networks of authorities in Finland, Sweden and Norway. The exercise showed that common talk groups can already be put into practice.
The Mission Critical Technology Trends overview by Erillisverkot Group explains why the authorities´ transitions to the 5G era is taking so long. The communication and information retrieval needs of authorities fundamentally do not differ from consumer usage, but the mission critical operating environment imposes special requirements on technology. The latest review focused on 5G technology also presents the opportunities that 5G technology offers for Finland´s next generation mission critical Virve services.
