15+ Years supporting First Responders on O’ahu
What do you think of when you think of Hawaii? Perfect weather, tropical beaches, volcanoes, waterfalls, surfing. When Catalyst thinks about Hawaii, at the top of our minds is our longterm collaboration and support of public safety communications for the city of Honolulu and the surrounding communities on the island of O’ahu.
In 2001, Catalyst first installed an innovative new radio voice dispatch system provide backup communications for the multisite 800 MHz Push-to-Talk network used by the Honolulu Police Department. The island’s mountainous terrain requires 16 radio towers and the back-up system needs to independently reach each of these geographic regions. The system routes voice messages from patrol cars across the City’s existing computer network using a technology that Catalyst pioneered called Radio over IP.
The Honolulu-Catalyst partnership produces continued innovation each year, adding new capabilities and streamlining the dispatch operation. In 2005, we added a similar system for the Honolulu Fire Department. Between these two organizations there are thirty-five consoles supporting five thousand subscriber radios making more than a million PTTs per month.
Catalyst and Honolulu Police and Fire have shared many events during our long history together. The city frequently hosts high profile conferences with world leaders and demonstrating robust public safety communications is critical. In other cities, protesters have disrupted these conferences and Honolulu took the necessary steps to deter and manage these groups, during the Asian Development Bank meeting in 2001, the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting in 2001, and the World Conservation Congress in 2016. In 2006, all Honolulu Police radio voice communications were routed over the Catalyst system during the earthquakes and subsequent aftermath. Two earthquakes, magnitudes 6.6 and 5.8, hit the state of Hawaii Oct. 15, causing landslides and structural damage to buildings and bridges. More recently, 911 and police dispatch services were relocated to HPD’s alternate communications center across the island so that renovations would not disrupt operations. Hurricane force winds, salt air, fires, and the finite life of radio electronics interrupt communications to some portion of O’ahu several times each year and public safety dispatchers are able to instantly restore the connection with field personnel using Catalyst’s IP Console.
Catalyst is proud to serve this longstanding partner and help them provide first responder services to O’ahu residents.
