Recently, city officials, along with other guests, attended Verizon’s demonstration of assets to help boost communications.
“Anytime we’re planning for a large event like the Big Game, communications have to be part of the conversation because if our responders can’t talk to each other, they can’t get the job done. Our No. 1 goal for events like the Big Game is the community’s safety,” said Carolyn Levering, emergency manager for the city of Las Vegas’ office of emergency management.
“Verizon has invested millions and millions of dollars in infrastructure so that the millions of people coming into this beautiful city every year can enjoy fantastic coverage,” said Maggie Hallbach, president of Verizon Frontline. “We prepare with the planning committees two years in advance.”
Some of the assets demonstrated included those developed working with first responders on the first responders on the front lines of disaster response operations. One is a huge, rugged truck known as the “Swiss Army Knife” of Verizon Frontline capabilities: THOR (Tactical Humanitarian Operations Response platform). It is a private 5G network on wheels with a private multi-access edge computing capability. Through deployable assets like THOR, communication and situational awareness are being provided to first responders when they need it crisis response situations.
Drone technology is also becoming more and more critical to the public safety community. Over the next five years, the number of first responders using drone technology is expected to triple.
“So that’s an amazing testament to the capabilities of innovation and mobile capabilities that are important and here to stay,” Hallbach said.
Verizon resources also help keep emergency management centers in constant communication.
“Having our communications providers work with us to ensure capacity is in place makes a huge difference for us. It helps us ensure not only the National Football League but the public, as a whole, that we have our public safety and communication issues met and ready to serve,” Levering said.
Verizon Frontline is committed to supporting first responders and even though the game has ended, Verizon’s investment in the valley remains.
Members of the editorial and news staff of the Las Vegas Review-Journal were not involved in the creation of this content.