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NCS Conducts First Successful Test of Backup Dial Tone Capabilities

ARLINGTON, Va., March 21, 2003 - Officials with the National Communications System (NCS) announced that they have successfully completed the first test of an initiative designed to study “Backup Dial Tone” capabilities in and around the National Capital Region.

The first tests, conducted with the Department of Energy and Terabeam Corporation of Kirkland, Washington, involve deploying Free Space Optics (FSO) as a wireless transmission medium to connect two of their buildings using Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology. Officials with the Energy Department indicated that the VoIP service is the first phase in a multi-phase plan to incorporate FSO technology at the department. Later phases include implementing a video conferencing service over the FSO link and using the FSO link to provide a diverse route between two PBXs.

The successful test of Backup Dial Tone capabilities at Department of Energy begins what NCS Deputy Manager Brenton C. Greene characterizes as a multi-phase study evaluating options for an alternative source of dial tone to critical Government facilities. "This is the type of capability that can play a vital national security and emergency preparedness role following a disaster, such as the September 11th attacks in New York and Washington," said Greene. "The success of this pilot program with Terabeam is impressive and offers a promising option for Backup Dial Tone services."

Terabeam’s FSO metro area network in Seattle provides a model for the effort being pursued in Washington. The Seattle network contains 11 hub sites, which transmit free space optics wireless signals throughout the downtown area, in effect, providing fiber optic speeds to nearly all of the downtown area. Free space optics is a technology whereby voice and data signals are sent via an invisible beam of light through the air, rather than through underground fiber optic cables. The light, using the same wavelength of a fiber optic cable light, is beamed directly through office windows or to building rooftops, allows high capacity for tremendous amounts of data. It’s fiber optics without the fiber.

The Energy Department is one of 23 Federal Agencies that make up the NCS, an organization chartered to provide national security and emergency preparedness (NS/EP) telecommunications. The NCS, which moved to the Department of Homeland Security on March 1, 2003, oversees vital programs such as the Government Emergency Telecommunications Service (GETS), Wireless Priority Service (WPS) and Telecommunications Service Priority (TSP). Although these programs provide for priority queuing or priority provisioning of the PSTN during emergencies, they do not address the problem of a loss of dial tone due to damage or congestion.

Soon after the September 11 attacks, the White House requested the NCS evaluate the need for a backup dial tone capability and determine whether or not it could have aided communications following the attacks. The White House also asked the NCS to evaluate various technical approaches to providing this service, with cost and timeframe estimates.

Valerie Liles, a telecommunications management specialist with the NCS Technology and Programs Division, said that although the initial indications were that many Federal organizations already had a backup dial tone capability, some critical agencies do not. “This study will identify agencies with an existing backup dial tone capability, agencies which should implement backup dial tone in the future, and which backup dial tone solution is optimum for that agency,” she said.

Liles said the Energy Department test is only part of a series of tests under the initiative’s third stage – a technology demonstration stage that could last a year. She said agencies like the Department of Energy were solicited to partner with the NCS and were given the option of selecting a particular technology to employ. “Once our volunteer partner agencies select the technical solution they are willing to help us demonstrate, we negotiate agreements with them and then our contractor arranges installation and conducts tests,” Liles said. She added that after a year of testing, the partner agency can opt to have the capability removed, or they can negotiate with the supplier to retain it.

The NCS completed the first two phases of the three-phase study last June, which consisted of analyzing generic and then actual Government architectures used to access the PSTN.

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