Next Generation 911 (NG9-1-1) is an initiative of the National Emergency Numbers Association (NENA). The goal is to port emergency services onto an IP backbone to enable Emergency Operators and First Responders to use location services and multimedia channels to find and provide aid to callers in distress. Location information, routing to the appropriate answering point, additional data related to the individual caller or to the emergency itself can be provided automatically and in real time using the standards and technologies identifieid by the IETF, NENA, and the W3C. NENA members engage in periodic interoperability events called Industry Collaboration Events (ICE) many of which are hosted on the RTC Lab's NG9-1-1 Test Bed. Students, faculty and staff support the NENA ICE Events. The NG9-1-1 Test Beds, located on both the Rice and the Main Campus, are accessed remotely by vendors throughout the year as they prepare for the events
The RTC Lab contains multiple instance of an Emergency Services IP backbone Network (ESInet), an IP network specified by NENA and based on IETF Standards. These are used for NENA ICE Tests and serve as the platform on which development projects including the BOSSA project are conducted. RTC Lab students support the ICE Events, taking traces and assisting in analyzing test results. Below are links to descriptions of recent ICE Events, as well as to pulbications that result from the RTC Lab work in the area of Next Generation 911(NG911).