Within the past five years Congressional legislation has created a federal-level 911 office, but so far its activities have been limited to funding for creating new 911 systems.

Most within the 911 community have realized that today's 911 systems need a gigantic advance in order to continue efficiently handling today's level of traffic, and to handle tomorrow's new requirements: handling video, photos and text, and the ability to shift around call centers and 911 calls.

This project of improvement has become known as Next Generation 9-1-1, or NexGen 911. The concept is most commonly associated with the Internet protocol (IP), but it involves many other layers and topics:

• standardizing the underlying technology of the nation's separate 911 systems, most likely using IP technology
• creating more centralized databases of information to handle calls
• interconnecting PSAPs to allow unlimited transfers of calls, distribution of overflow 911 calls, to other centers, and other call-handling features
• allowing the 911 system to accept and handle advanced information from citizens, including video, photos, text messages, etc.
• interconnecting with private services, such as telematics providers, to handle automatic crash notification (ACN) and other similar data.
• adding advanced features to the 911 system, such as automatic routing for languages, mapping, medical info storage, etc.

Two major groups are working on NexGen 911--the National Emergency Number Association (NENA), Association of Public Safety Communications Officials (APCO), the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), and the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF).

NENA - Their Web site has a short explanation of their work, and a blueprint (pdf) for future action.. The group has a Next Generation Partner Program to gather expertise and experience from both private and commercial sources.

APCO - In July 2007 the group signed a joint agreement on NexGen 911migration and transition planning. They groups agreed to solicit input and share output with each other. APCO has an official NexGen 911 initiative, dubbed Project 41.

DOT - They have an aggressive $11 million program to study NexGen 911, as part of their responsibility to improve public safety communications, in turn as part of an effort to improve highway safety and to reduce deaths and injuries. They have taken a wide-ranging, multi-disciplinary view, gathering input and assistance from as many stakeholders as possible. Check their Web site for more information, including publications. Update: The DOT has a five-site demonstration program underway in June, 2008. Read more here.

IETF - This group is responsible for the way the Internet is engineered, so their efforts are "out there." Their working group Emergency Context Resolution with Internet Technologies (ECRIT) is handling the issue of NexGen 911 and expects to have a full report finished by the end of 2007. Check their official Web site, and the group chair's Web site for more info.

Other resources:

• ConneXon Telecom Inc. has a Web site devoted to advanced 911
• Paper by Prof. Harold Schulzrinne (Columbia University, NY) on IP technology and 911 [pdf]. The professor has been studying IP and 911 for many years and is one of the leading experts on the matter.
• A presentation by Qwest on implementing NexGen 911 [pdf]
• A story on the ECRIT work in Networking magazine.
• Network Reliability and Interoperability Council (NRIC) 2005 final report on "...Beyond 911" [pdf]
• The Next Generation Emergency Services Subcommittee (NGES) of the group AGIS is working on standards for communications links among public safety agencies.