Merseyside Fire & Rescue
Gone are the days of the watchtower and bell. The modern fire and rescue service must take advantage of the very latest in ICT solutions to meet the needs of their region effectively. As one of the UK’s largest fire services in the UK, Mersey Fire turned to telent to implement a truly 21st century communications system.
Merseyside Fire & Rescue Service communications at the forefront of new technology.
About Mersey Fire and Rescue Services
Covering an area of 653 square kilometres and a population of over 1.4 million, Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service (MFRS) is one of the largest fire services in the UK. Since its creation in 1986, the service has grown to employ more than 1,800 people who work in a number of administrative service centres and 26 community fire stations.
MFRS’s requirement
Reliable and robust communications are vital to any organisation, but to the Fire Service they are critical – literally a matter of life or death. MFRS needed to upgrade to an integrated information and communication (ICT) system to ensure that emergency calls were dealt with in the quickest and most appropriate way.
Our solution
We worked with MFRS under a Joint Development Partnership to integrate its first line support staff, under a Transfer of Undertaking Protection of Employment (TUPE) agreement, into our support services group
Following a detailed review of the existing ICT system and infrastructure, we designed an extensive improvement programme. This began with an upgrade of the core network to allow new technologies to be introduced seamlessly and with greater ease.
The Wide Area Network connecting all of MFRS’s sites has been upgraded from an under-performing ISDN platform to a more resilient and cost-effective circuit based platform. The service’s maturing email system and computer programmes have also been updated, and two new control rooms have been introduced at the centre of a state-of-the-art integrated command and control system.
On top of upgrading MFRS’s infrastructure, we now provide an IT and telecommunications support desk that is accessible 24 hours a day, seven days a week throughout the year. We are also responsible for maintenance, contingency and disaster recovery planning as well as cabling and training services.
In addition, we have installed a brand new voice-over-IP system (VoIP) to replace the service’s analogue stand alone telephone switches. Now networked, multi-functional IP telephony switches allow digital telephony across the 30 MFRS sites that use the existing data network.
Result
By working in partnership with telent, and sharing resources and personnel, MFRS now has a modern ICT system which has improved efficiency and resulted in significant cost savings, allowing it to meet its budget.
telent has integrated seamlessly into the MFRS team and demonstrated both the technical skill to design and install a critically important integrated information system. telent has also proved its ability to consistently manage the system well, throughout the duration of this long term agreement.
Our bespoke systems are tailored to meet the exact needs of the service, enabling MFRS to do its job more efficiently — and so helping to keep the residents of Merseyside safe.
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