Houston 911 Center To Use Information Management Solution

  • Jul 08, 2008

NICE Systems recently announced the City of Houston, has selected NICE Inform for its 911 Center. The consolidated center for the United States' fourth largest city, the Houston Emergency Center (HEC) is equipped with state-of-the-art technology. The City of Houston recently added NICE Inform and other NICE solutions to its Emergency Center for their unique ability to capture and manage high volumes of critical emergency communications and other vital multimedia incident information.

Houston consolidated its three communications centers into a single public safety answering point in 2003 and invested in advanced emergency communications technology, but still employed separate voice-only recording solutions for police, fire and emergency medical services (EMS). With the NICE solutions, including NICE Inform, the three departments will now be able to share a single, partitioned and redundant solution for recording and reviewing emergency communications, which will not only enhance reliability, but reduce the department's overhead and technical support requirements as well.

"The NICE solutions are the next step in our evolution as a technologically-advanced emergency communications center," said Matt Hyde, Chief Technology Officer for the Houston Emergency Center. "NICE offered us advanced capabilities, and greater reliability, ease-of-use and scalability than we had before. With NICE Inform, we're also laying the foundation to be able to extend our recording capability beyond voice to include data and video too."

"The Houston Emergency Center is one of the most impressive and technologically-advanced emergency communications centers in the United States," said Chris Wooten, President, Security Division Americas, NICE. "We are very proud that the City of Houston has expanded its relationship with NICE by selecting NICE Inform and other NICE solutions for its advanced emergency communication facility."

NICE Inform is a full-spectrum multimedia incident information management solution for the security market. It provides ground-breaking capabilities for effectively managing incident information from various sources, including audio, video, text and data, streamlining information-sharing, investigations and evidence delivery.

The capabilities of NICE Inform also enable agencies and command and control centers to move beyond simply capturing voice communications to centrally capturing and managing many different types of multimedia information central to investigations, such as video, mug shots, affidavits and incident reports. The unique comprehensive capabilities of NICE Inform can be tailored to the specific needs of command and control centers for first responders and homeland security, transportation, government and private sector organizations, and deliver improved collaboration and operational efficiency to enhance safety and security.

Featured

  • The Evolution of IP Camera Intelligence

    As the 30th anniversary of the IP camera approaches in 2026, it is worth reflecting on how far we have come. The first network camera, launched in 1996, delivered one frame every 17 seconds—not impressive by today’s standards, but groundbreaking at the time. It did something that no analog system could: transmit video over a standard IP network. Read Now

  • From Surveillance to Intelligence

    Years ago, it would have been significantly more expensive to run an analytic like that — requiring a custom-built solution with burdensome infrastructure demands — but modern edge devices have made it accessible to everyone. It also saves time, which is a critical factor if a missing child is involved. Video compression technology has played a critical role as well. Over the years, significant advancements have been made in video coding standards — including H.263, MPEG formats, and H.264—alongside compression optimization technologies developed by IP video manufacturers to improve efficiency without sacrificing quality. The open-source AV1 codec developed by the Alliance for Open Media—a consortium including Google, Netflix, Microsoft, Amazon and others — is already the preferred decoder for cloud-based applications, and is quickly becoming the standard for video compression of all types. Read Now

  • Cost: Reactive vs. Proactive Security

    Security breaches often happen despite the availability of tools to prevent them. To combat this problem, the industry is shifting from reactive correction to proactive protection. This article will examine why so many security leaders have realized they must “lead before the breach” – not after. Read Now

  • Achieving Clear Audio

    In today’s ever-changing world of security and risk management, effective communication via an intercom and door entry communication system is a critical communication tool to keep a facility’s staff, visitors and vendors safe. Read Now

  • Beyond Apps: Access Control for Today’s Residents

    The modern resident lives in an app-saturated world. From banking to grocery delivery, fitness tracking to ridesharing, nearly every service demands another download. But when it comes to accessing the place you live, most people do not want to clutter their phone with yet another app, especially if its only purpose is to open a door. Read Now

Most   Popular

New Products

  • QCS7230 System-on-Chip (SoC)

    QCS7230 System-on-Chip (SoC)

    The latest Qualcomm® Vision Intelligence Platform offers next-generation smart camera IoT solutions to improve safety and security across enterprises, cities and spaces. The Vision Intelligence Platform was expanded in March 2022 with the introduction of the QCS7230 System-on-Chip (SoC), which delivers superior artificial intelligence (AI) inferencing at the edge.

  • Luma x20

    Luma x20

    Snap One has announced its popular Luma x20 family of surveillance products now offers even greater security and privacy for home and business owners across the globe by giving them full control over integrators’ system access to view live and recorded video. According to Snap One Product Manager Derek Webb, the new “customer handoff” feature provides enhanced user control after initial installation, allowing the owners to have total privacy while also making it easy to reinstate integrator access when maintenance or assistance is required. This new feature is now available to all Luma x20 users globally. “The Luma x20 family of surveillance solutions provides excellent image and audio capture, and with the new customer handoff feature, it now offers absolute privacy for camera feeds and recordings,” Webb said. “With notifications and integrator access controlled through the powerful OvrC remote system management platform, it’s easy for integrators to give their clients full control of their footage and then to get temporary access from the client for any troubleshooting needs.”

  • AC Nio

    AC Nio

    Aiphone, a leading international manufacturer of intercom, access control, and emergency communication products, has introduced the AC Nio, its access control management software, an important addition to its new line of access control solutions.