As 2014 closes out, we have a lot to be thankful for at CCS. First and foremost is the ongoing support of our customers and their continued show of confidence in our Mobile Emergency Response Centers and our ability to deliver a quality product. Our expansion and presence in other countries continue with recent projects in Canada and Peru. We have also been awarded several important projects for new customers including the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Defense Logistics Agency.
In November 2014, CCS delivered our 7th Mobile Emergency Response Center (MERC) to the Texas Department of Public Safety in Austin, Texas. This newest MERC is the most technologically advanced mobile command center we have ever done and is now the most advanced response unit not only in the State of Texas but in North America. This new 45 foot MERC is powered by a Cummins Onan 40,000-watt diesel generator and is divided into 3 sections; a dispatch center located at the front of the trailer with 5 Motorola dispatch consoles each equipped with 3 monitors including a 20 inch touchscreen, a kitchen and bathroom with a full-size refrigerator, microwave, and toilet, and a rear conference room equipped with 5 32 inch HD monitors, a 65 inch Newline interactive touchscreen, a conference room table, and three additional workstations.
The MERC is equipped with 4 slide outs that allow a very comfortable work space for the First Responders assigned to the unit and has 5 15,000 BTU heating and ac units controlled by wall-mounted thermostats. There are 3 equipment racks protected by an online Uninterrupted Power Supply that are equipped with Motorola radios and Telex equipment, C-Com satellite equipment, cellular routers, a Salient video monitoring and storage system, dual Direct TV HD receivers, a 16 X 16 video matrix switch, PTZ camera controls, and rack-mounted dual viewing monitors, and a Cisco switch and wireless router. The MERC is equipped with two 50 foot Tempest Fireco pneumatic masts, a 1.2-meter auto acquire C-Com VSAT satellite, a Winegard Direct TV HD auto-acquire satellite system, two roof-mounted antenna raceways equipped with 32 NMO mounts, and a roof-mounted Weather Station.
Through our partnership with Chilcott, Inc based out of Miami, Florida we have continued to expand into South America delivering two more Mobile Emergency Response Centers to the Country of Peru. In early November representatives from the Peru Military including the Minister of Defense made the journey to our new facility in Terrell, Texas to do a pre-delivery inspection of the two MERC-Lites before they were placed on a cargo ship at the Port of Galveston.
These two MERC Lites were each equipped with a Cummins Onan 12,000 watt diesel generator, AVL 1.2 meter auto-acquire satellite, Motorola rack mounted and portable radios, an onboard battery back up system, a Tempest 30 foot pneumatic mast equipped with PTZ cameras and radio antennas, a CradlePoint LTE modem, and a Mutualink incident response system to allow the Peru military to have interoperability and video sharing capabilities in a mobile environment. Training will be conducted in Peru after the first of the year for the soldiers and staff assigned to these new MERC units.
Although we do manufacture our own line of communication trailers, the real value we provide our customers is the installation and integration work we provide that enables them to communicate and function during an emergency response situation. A key part of that is the ability to connect several different types or modes of communication into a single platform that can quickly and easily be shared and viewed with other First Responders. My favorite way to describe it is a “conferencing bridge on steroids”. Many people refer to this an interoperability but in the First Responder Market, too many people think of that in terms of simply connecting different frequencies of radios into a single talk group. Through our partnership with Mutualink, we are able to not only connect different frequencies of radios together, but also bridge these radios with VoIP phone service, SIP phone service, cellular phone service, analog phone service, share live video feeds between users, share documents such as floor plans between users, do private intercom calls between users, and even allow text messages between users. The Mutualink system is very simple to use, requires very little operator training, and can be controlled from a multitude of platforms including a Windows-based desktop computer or laptop, iPhone, or even a tablet.
CCS recently completed a major installation of a Mutualink network for Harris County Sheriff’s Department based out of Houston, Texas. The County purchased three Mutualink Independent Work Stations (IWS) and the necessary Network Interface Cards to connect to the County Radio Network, the County VoIP phone system, and the County’s video network. Two of these units were installed in Mobile Command Centers and one was installed as part of a Portable Emergency Response Center (PERC) which is a portable cased system that includes 4g connectivity. The County also purchased 5 Mutualink Edge Software Licenses that allow this same software to be loaded on laptops and smart devices such as iPhones or iPads. This new Mutualink network will allow the County to more effectively respond to an emergency by being able to quickly communicate and share information with all Mutualink users.
CCS with our partners at Chilcott have been able to establish Mutualink as the standard incidence response platform for South America. Every Mobile Emergency Response Center satcom trailer we have delivered to this part of the world has been equipped with a Mutualink system. This allows different countries and agencies to communicate with each other and share information as they conduct joint operations and field exercises. Through the satellite network that we provide these customers, they are able to use this Mutualink equipment anywhere in the world that they are deployed.
CCS continues to grow our mobile video surveillance offers with our MERC-V video trailers. CCS has been awarded recent projects for the Georgia Tech University Police Department through our partners in Vetted Solution and for the City of Dallas Police Department. The MERC-V for Georgia Tech was unique in that it combined video surveillance cameras with License Plate Recognition cameras. This new communication tool will allow the on-campus police department to make their campus an even safer environment for their students and faculty.
There will be much more info on these projects in the future months along with an update on a recent award by the Texas National Guard to build out 8 new Mobile Emergency Response Center units for their continued support of the State of Texas. Hope everyone had a safe Thanksgiving! Please contact me with any questions about our products and services