Harris Corporation Receives Orders Totaling Approximately $100 Million for Miami-Dade County Public Safety Communications System Upgrade

MIAMI and BOSTON, March 22 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Miami-Dade County, Florida, has selected Harris Corporation (NYSE: HRS), an international communications and information technology company, to upgrade the county's public safety and public service communications system as part of an overall communications project for the county.

The project will provide the county with a new Harris P25^IP (Project 25 to the power of Internet Protocol) 800 MHz radio communications system, and also includes radio terminals for the county to comply with the FCC's (Federal Communications Commission) rebanding mandate (FCC 04-168).  The new standards-based system will bring the county greater functionality on a flexible system platform.

"When this project is complete, the county will have a modern, standards-based digital radio communications system that will last us well into the future and provide considerable cost-savings," said Felix Perez, Division Director, Radio, Enterprise Technology Services Department, Miami-Dade County.  "Our current EDACS^® system has served us well for more than 18 years, but the FCC mandate and the trend towards P25 standard equipment led us to upgrade and modernize our radio communications infrastructure.  Harris is the ideal partner for this project because its solution ensures a seamless transition with minimal downtime.  Miami-Dade will have a reliable, modern P25 800 MHz radio system that will improve interoperability among our first responders and other radio system users."

The new Harris P25^IP system will serve more than 80 agencies and 31,000 users throughout the county, including the Miami-Dade Police Department, Miami-Dade Water and Sewer Department, and Miami International Airport.  The new system will continue to interoperate with Miami-Dade Fire Rescue's conventional UHF system.  The P25^IP system will operate in parallel with the county's existing EDACS system, providing a smooth transition for the county's users during the upgrade to the digital system.  The Harris customized migration plan allows for the reuse of existing shelters, towers and generators.  

"We are proud that Harris has been a strong partner with Miami-Dade County," said Dana Mehnert, group president, Harris RF Communications.  "Our technology and support has kept their radio system operational with extremely high system reliability.  Through this system migration, we will be able to leverage the county's existing radio assets, providing both advanced capabilities and real cost-savings to Miami-Dade."

Harris Public Safety and Professional Communications is a leading supplier of assured communications® systems and equipment for public safety, federal, utility, commercial and transportation markets — with products ranging from the most advanced IP voice and data networks, to industry leading multiband, multimode radios, to public safety-grade broadband video and data solutions.  With more than 80 years of experience, Harris Public Safety and Professional Communications supports over 500 systems around the world.  

About Harris Corporation

Harris is an international communications and information technology company serving government and commercial markets in more than 150 countries.  Headquartered in Melbourne, Florida, the company has approximately $5 billion of annual revenue and more than 15,000 employees — including nearly 7,000 engineers and scientists.  Harris is dedicated to developing best-in-class assured communications^® products, systems, and services.  Additional information about Harris Corporation is available at www.harris.com.

Background

The Harris P25^IP System Meeting the Needs of Miami-Dade County

With a population of more than 2.4 million, Miami-Dade County is comprised of 35 municipalities.  The county is bounded by Biscayne Bay and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Everglades National Park to the west, the Florida Keys to the south, and Broward County to the north.  

Miami-Dade's new scalable P25^IP system is based on a unified IP-network architecture that brings many benefits to the county's public safety and public service communications users.

• Inter-networking to provide Miami-Dade users with advanced features such as emergency services, unit-to-unit calls, caller ID, end-to-end encryption and inter-system roaming across existing, emerging and future airlinks.
• Integration of voice and data via Harris P25^IP technology and the Harris VIDA^® (Voice, Interoperability, Data, Access) network, as well 4.9 GHz broadband via Harris VIDA Broadband solution.
• Enhancement of radio coverage through two, P25 simulcast systems with advanced, linear simulcast modulation for improved radio system performance.
• Reuse of the county's Harris NetworkFirst gateways, EDACS IP Gateways, and eventually the Harris P25 Inter Subsystem Interface (ISSI) server for interoperability.
• Reuse of 80 percent of the current dispatch consoles and associated equipment.

Harris multi-mode M7300 mobile and P7300 portable radios will operate on both Miami-Dade's EDACS legacy system and its new P25 system, so that only a single radio type is needed throughout the program implementation.  Harris radios will continue to connect seamlessly with the Florida State Law Enforcement Radio System (SLERS) for mutual-aid communications.  Harris operates and maintains SLERS – a system consisting of nearly 200 radio sites throughout the State of Florida that supports the operation of more than 16,000 user radios.

Rebanding requirements will be met through Sprint Nextel replacement of the county's existing 18-year old radios with 24,000 backward- and forward-compatible mobile and portable radios (Harris M7300 mobile and P7300 portable radios) to support the system's seamless migration.  The county's current radios will operate on the existing EDACS system as well as on the new P25^IP system.

The P25^IP network is based on the Harris IP-based VIDA network.  The VIDA network is a cost-effective, interoperable radio communications technology that supports OpenSky^®, P25 and other IP-based systems.  It addresses voice and data communications needs of transportation, utility and public safety radio users around the world.  It provides a full, IP-management platform for the P25 Phase 1 industry standard and P25 Phase 2, the next-generation emerging technical standard for mission-critical communications.

SOURCE Harris Corporation