Las Vegas police dump problem radio system

By Mike Blasky AND Brian Haynes LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL

It was a multimillion-dollar mistake. And the timing couldn't be worse.

After two years of battling dropped calls and dead zones in the department's new radio system, Clark County Sheriff Doug Gillespie has opted to drop Desert Sky.

On Oct. 11, Gillespie informed the CEO of the Harris Corp. that his company's Desert Sky radio system cannot meet his department's needs. That's a sharp change from past statements and advice to officers to remain patient while system bugs are fixed.

"I believe we've given Harris every opportunity to make the system work," Gillespie said. "It's just not a reliable system."

Unveiled in the summer of 2010, the $42 million Desert Sky digital system - based on Harris' OpenSky system marketed to emergency service agencies nationwide - was touted as having expanded channel capacities, enabling advanced data communications for computers in patrol cars and other features unavailable with the agency's aging analog system.

Desert Sky's data capabilities have seen mixed results, but the voice communication between officers is the bigger problem. While improved in the past two years, the system still is not up to snuff for an agency whose officers talk on the radio 50,000 times every day, the sheriff said.

"OpenSky cannot meet that demand," Gillespie said.

Complaints are common among patrol cops, who say the faulty system endangers their lives.

"It's honestly going to get an officer hurt," said one patrol officer who asked not to be identified. "It's just a matter of time. We're worried about getting into a situation where we need help and no one can hear us."

LAWSUIT POSSIBLE

The decision to dump Desert Sky comes in the midst of the Metropolitan Police Department's worst budget crisis ever. The county wide agency's projected budget of $502 million for fiscal year 2013-14 is $46 million more than projected revenues.

Police officials say hiring a vendor to build a replacement voice transmission system could cost $15 million to $20 million, and take 16 to 24 months.

Assistant Sheriff Joseph Lombardo, who oversees the Las Vegas police Radio Systems Bureau, acknowledged the project could "require additional funds" at a time when the department is counting every penny.

"We're in discussions with Harris for a solution," Lombardo said. "It depends if they can meet our terms or not. If we come to impasse, we could explore other vendors."

The relationship between Harris and the department is not dead, however. The department will retain Desert Sky for data transmission, but needs a new system to handle day-to-day voice communication.

Harris might even be the company entrusted with that job. While it struck out with Desert Sky, Harris could build the infrastructure for the state-of-the art Project 25 - or P25 - radio system that has become the new federal standard for public safety agencies. P25 has proven to be effective in major urban settings, whereas OpenSky has not.

Gillespie wouldn't comment on companies that might build the new system, but said a decision would be made within 30 days. The potential cost is "under discussion," he said, as is the source of the money.

If Harris won't build a new voice system at no additional cost, the department would likely hire another vendor - Motorola is a primary competitor of Harris - and cover that bill by suing Harris for failing to build Desert Sky to contract specifications.

A Harris spokesperson did not return a call seeking comment Friday. The status of discussions between the department and Harris was unclear.

"Our desire is to not spend another dime on (Desert Sky). We're still pursuing that direction," Lombardo said. "There's still a lot of negotiation questions that have not been answered yet."

'IT'S BEEN A FAILURE, A JOKE'

The department began looking at updating its radio system around 2003, as its analog system was nearing maximum capacity and the agency was expanding along with Southern Nevada's population.

The department contracted with M/A-COM Technology Solutions Inc. to design and build its new system, OpenSky. Harris Corp., a Florida-based corporation billed as the leading supplier of radios to the U.S. military, acquired M/A-COM in 2009.

Many other public safety agencies around the country bought OpenSky, and many have been left disappointed with systems dogged by performance and reliability problems.

In early 2009, the state of New York cited technology problems when it terminated a $2 billion contract with M/A-COM to build a statewide communications system.

Lancaster County, Pa., dumped its OpenSky contract in 2008 after spending about 11 years and $14 million on the project.

"It was the cutting edge of a technology," Lombardo said. "It hasn't been a resounding success."

Patrol officers don't mince their words when it comes to the technology.

"It's been a failure. A joke," said the patrol officer who asked for anonymity.

The officer told of a police shooting last year where the officers were caught in a dead zone and unable to radio for help.

"(The officers) tried like hell," he said.

In addition to dead zones and dropped calls, officers are also struggling to adapt to the new emergency button.

The radios have an emergency button that will override other radio traffic, but it hasn't always worked right and requires cops to learn when and how to use it.

"When you're in a situation and your adrenaline's flowing and you've got tunnel vision, everything you do is muscle memory. And officers weren't trained to use the emergency button," he said. "Some of us have gotten better, but it's not perfect."

Lombardo said officer safety is the department's top priority.

"That's why we're pursuing all our options, because that's as big a concern to us as it is to the police officers," he said. "The technology just hasn't gotten us to where we need to be, Harris has been assuring us they can get us there. But a lot of time has gone by."

 

From Dave Zantow, N9EWO:

This is the same radio system that Milwaukee WI has been struggling with for years. So the plan for Las Vegas is to now switch to P25 (from Open Sky) and MANY more taxpayer $$’s.

 

Tyco Electronics Sells Its Wireless Systems Business to Harris Corporation

Tyco Electronics Ltd. today (April 16) announced that the company has entered into a definitive agreement to sell its Wireless Systems business to Harris Corporation for $675 million in cash, subject to final working capital adjustments. Wireless Systems is a leader in the development of large-scale critical communications systems based on Internet Protocol (IP) technology for customers in the public safety, utility, transit and public service industries. The business generated sales of $461 million in fiscal 2008.

According to Tyco Electronics Chief Executive Officer Tom Lynch, "The sale of the Wireless Systems business will increase our focus on our core connectivity business and substantially completes the streamlining of our portfolio that we began two years ago. Wireless Systems is an ideal fit for Harris, whose size, resources and experience in the communications industry should help position the business for accelerated growth."

The transaction is subject to customary regulatory approvals and is expected to close in the summer of 2009. Tyco Electronics will report the results of the Wireless Systems business as a discontinued operation beginning with its fiscal third quarter, ending June 26, 2009.

And from Harris:

Harris Corporation (NYSE:HRS), an international communications and information technology company, has signed a definitive agreement to acquire the Tyco Electronics Wireless Systems business (formerly known as M/A-COM), an established provider of mission-critical wireless communications systems for law enforcement, fire and rescue, and public service organizations.

Tyco Electronics Wireless Systems, a business segment of Tyco Electronics Ltd. (NYSE:TEL; BSX:TEL), was formed in 1999 and grew through the acquisition of ComNet Ericsson in 2001 to create Tyco Electronics Wireless Systems ("Wireless Systems"). Wireless Systems will be combined with the Harris RF Communications business segment, creating a dynamic new organization that will provide end-to-end wireless network solutions to the growing $9 billion global land mobile radio systems market.

"The combination of RF Communications and Wireless Systems creates a powerful supplier in the global land mobile radio systems market," said Howard L. Lance, chairman, president and CEO of Harris. "With an 80-year heritage in providing communications for the public safety market, Wireless Systems has established a large installed customer base, extensive domain knowledge, and well-developed sales channels, which serve the federal, state, and local public safety markets. Wireless Systems provides complete end-to-end infrastructure solutions, including IP-based voice and data networks, which support multiple platforms and provide interoperability among disparate systems. Harris RF Communications offers industry-leading radio technology, including the latest in software-defined multiband radios for interoperability and upgradeability, high-level encryption capable of supporting top secret communications, and digital waveform technology. In addition, Harris brings to the new partnership access to well-established business channels for the Department of Defense, U.S. federal agencies, and international customers."

Under the definitive agreement, Harris will purchase the Wireless Systems assets of Tyco Electronics for $675 million in cash, subject to post-closing adjustments. The goodwill arising on completion of the acquisition will be an allowable tax expense with an estimated net present value of $60 million, resulting in an effective purchase price of $615 million. The transaction excludes the State of New York wireless network contract awarded to Wireless Systems in December 2004. Wireless Systems' revenue for the fiscal year ending September 26, 2008, was $463 million, and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) was $86 million. The acquisition is expected to be slightly accretive to Harris earnings in fiscal 2010, excluding acquisition-related charges, and a significant contributor to earnings in fiscal 2011 and fiscal 2012. Morgan Stanley acted as the financial advisor to Harris, while Jones Day provided legal advice.

Wireless Systems is headquartered in Lowell, Massachusetts, with product development and manufacturing facilities in Lynchburg, Virginia, and has approximately 1,150 employees, including 500 engineers and scientists. Principal end-markets for the business include public safety and public service, federal government, transit and transportation, and utilities. End-to-end solutions include network systems and software solutions; mobile and portable radio equipment; broadband WiMAX products for high speed-data applications; and operations, service and maintenance. The business is a key player in the wireless communications standards process, successfully driving its products to open standards in both U.S. and international markets, including the next-generation digital APCO P25 standard.

Wireless Systems will operate as a business unit under the Harris RF Communications segment, headquartered in Rochester, New York. Chuck Dougherty will continue to serve as president of Wireless Systems and will report to Dana Mehnert, president of RF Communications.

"This acquisition greatly accelerates our entry into the land mobile radio systems market and creates a significant opportunity for growth in both North American and international markets," said Mehnert. "Complementary distribution channels will provide Harris with immediate access to state and local government markets for our new UnityT family of multiband radios and will expand the reach for Wireless Systems infrastructure and single-band radios to the Department of Defense, U.S. federal agencies, and international customers. We look forward to delivering a new level of capability and value and bringing industry-leading customer service and support to this market by leveraging the nationwide Harris IT Services workforce."

"Reliable, secure voice and data communications are essential to first responders and government agencies entrusted with ensuring the public's health and safety," said Dougherty. "We have successfully deployed over 500 systems worldwide. Integrating our products, systems, technologies and market channels with Harris will allow our combined businesses to bridge the interoperability gap and unite public safety responders at all levels of state, local and federal government."

NY State Said to Be Close to Dropping Police Radio Project

By KEN BELSON and AL BAKER

State officials are close to canceling a $2 billion contract to build a statewide wireless network for emergency agencies after critical tests on the network failed late last year, according to state officials briefed on the results.

Lawyers for the vendor, M/A-COM, a subsidiary of Tyco Electronics, sent the state a letter on Friday threatening to sue if officials follow through on their plan to shut down the project, which was intended to improve radio communications throughout the state, but particularly in remote areas where police agencies have trouble talking to one another.

State officials, though, were said to be determined to shut down the project because it was unclear, after a pilot program in two counties and nearly $52 million in expenditures, that M/A-COM's system would ever work as expected. A major problem has been the difficulty and unanticipated cost of installing radio towers in remote, mountainous areas, according to the officials and technical experts, who spoke
anonymously because the contract dispute is at a delicate juncture.

To finish the project, state officials decided that considerably more money would have to be spent at a time when the state is expected to have large budget deficits. At the same time, the state cannot embark on a new network project, no matter what the cost, until it untangles itself from its current contract, one state official said.

"The state is reviewing the letter from the attorneys for M/A-COM," said Morgan Hook, a spokesman for Gov. David A. Paterson. "We anticipate making a decision in short order that will be based on our factual analysis of the system's performance."

Lawyers from Weil, Gotshal & Manges, the firm representing M/A-COM, said in their letter that it was "patently obvious" that the state was determined to cancel the contract because of political and financial pressure and was using technical issues as a pretext for the cancellation.

The State Office for Technology, which has overseen the network's construction since 2005, "has acted in bad faith throughout the past year" and has made "defamatory and untrue statements regarding M/A-COM's performance under the contract," the letter said.

The largest technology contract in state history, the network has had problems from the start, according to state officials. In August, the state sent a default letter to M/A-COM ordering it to fix deficiencies or face cancellation. A decision to cancel the project has seemed imminent since then, and some state officials, and lawyers for the contractor, have spoken of it as a fait accompli.

The original plan, conceived after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, was designed to link emergency agencies from the tip of Long Island to Niagara Falls via a series of radio towers. The network was meant to cover 95 percent of New York's area and 97 percent of its roadways, including some of the most remote parts of the state.

The Office for Technology is looking at other methods, including Internet-based communications and cellphone technology, that are said to be more cost-effective and could provide more reliable and cheaper service than the radio technology called for in the original contract.

Daniel M. De Federicis, the president of the Police Benevolent Association of the New York State Troopers, said that until a statewide radio network has been built, his organization would push for improvements in the present patchwork of networks.

"The lack of an operating statewide wireless network is beyond frustrating," Mr. De Federicis said in a statement. "The P.B.A. cannot stress enough that this creates life-and-death situations for police officers, and we are running out of synonyms for `ineptness' to describe the situation."

The project, which is now two years behind schedule, has faced questions from the outset. Critics questioned the Pataki administration's decision to award the contract to M/A-COM, whose bid was $1 billion less than its closest major competitor, Motorola.

The radio system was supposed to be working in Erie County and neighboring Chautauqua County by June 2007, but repeated problems caused the City of Buffalo to quit the statewide system in December 2007.

M/A-COM missed other operational deadlines, finally prompting the Office for Technology to declare in August that the company was in default. The office gave the company 45 days to fix 19 deficiencies.

In their letter Friday, lawyers for the company said that all technological issues had been addressed and that any delays were the fault of the state.

During an 11-day test period in July, the network was found to be inoperable for nearly 44 hours, far more than the 53 minutes of downtime per year authorized by the state.

Since the state default letter was issued in August, some workers hired to build the network have been laid off, and several subcontractors have stopped work on the network.

In late August, the state comptroller, Thomas P. DiNapoli, issued a report criticizing the plan. The report noted that the "network testing was not properly planned or implemented, and the needs of the public safety user agencies were not fully taken into account during the network design and development process."

Separately, M/A-COM agreed to pay the state $4 million after auditors found that the company had billed for services that had not been provided and charged for some equipment that had already been paid for.

A spokesman for M/A-COM, Steven A. Greenberg, said on Friday, "We remain ready to hear from the state, as we have since testing concluded last fall."

NY Statewide Wireless Network on Ropes

NY Times Blog Article By Danny Hakim

Source: http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/08/20/statewide-wireless-network-on-ropes/#more-3697

More bad news will come tomorrow (August 21, 2008), when Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli will release a highly critical audit detailing failures of M/A-Com, a division of Tyco International, in living up to the requirements of its contract to create the network, according to a person briefed on the audit.

An ambitious plan to create an emergency radio network that was intended to connect all emergency agencies and local police and fire departments in New York State appears to be in danger of falling apart. The $2 billion network has been plagued with problems
( http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/18/nyregion/18radio.html?scp=1&sq=%22statewide%20wireless%20network%22&st=cse) and has also been the victim of the latest round of budget cuts, which included a $40 million cut to the project.

A press release detailing budget cuts issued by the Paterson administration Wednesday said, somewhat ominously, that "any decision regarding the future of the Statewide Wireless Network project" would be "made at a later date." At a press conference Wednesday, Gov. David A. Paterson was asked if the project was dead, at which point Speaker Sheldon Silver whispered something that was inaudible in the governor´s ear. "The Speaker just said to me it´s not dead," the governor said, "but it´s in critical condition."

Editorial Comment: Surprise, surprise, another dismal failure of a M/A-COM system. If the Dems in Congres want to do something useful maybe they should hold hearings on all the wasted taxpayer money spent on failed M/A-COM trunk radio systems, like New York state and New Orleans (to name just two). Florida, you have a big target on your back and the clock is ticking.