FirstNet Took Careful Look at Technologies on Display at CES, Official Says

Last month’s CES was a good opportunity to see the future of public safety communications, said a Tuesday FirstNet blog post. FirstNet staff used CES as a “a sneak peek to what may be possible with the nationwide public safety broadband network,” especially since devices usually start in the consumer space, wrote Barry Leitch of the FirstNet Chief Technology Officer Devices Group. Smartphones offering “voice, messaging and data access to public safety personnel,” laptops and tablets that can be used as mobile data terminals and vehicle-mounted wireless routers were the types of devices scoped by FirstNet staff, Leitch wrote. “At CES, we also looked to when new technology solutions for public safety may spur innovation in the commercial sector,” he said. “Keynote presentations during the show covered topics including the Internet of Things, commercial video streaming service, and cognitive learning systems working with IOT and cloud services.”