06.02.2013 -
Athonet, in cooperation with the Italian Civil Protection FVG,
has been shortlisted for the Global Mobile Awards 2013 in the
category "Best Use of Mobile in Emergency or Humanitarian
Situations". The nomination is in recognition of the Civil
Protection's rapid deployment of LTE communications based on
Athonet's PriMo solution during last year's earthquake disaster in
Italy. This was the first application of LTE technology in a
disaster area supporting Civil Protection emergency workers.
Athonet's PriMo solution is a complete, compact, distributed,
high performance, transportable network solution supporting LTE,
UMTS/HSPA, WiFi and CDMA. PriMo is the best choice for public
safety, large enterprises, hospitals, campuses, smartgrids,
regional or rural green-field operators and small cell
deployments.
In May 2012, two major earthquakes occurred in Northern Italy,
causing widespread damage and leaving 5000 people homeless.
Telecommunication networks became a critical resource for public
safety and civilians. However fixed and mobile networks were
overloaded or damaged. The Italian Civil Protection immediately
dispatched Athonet's PriMo rapid deployment equipment to one of the
hardest hit areas in the town of Mirandola to provide mobile
broadband access to civilians and emergency operations. In just few
hours the Italian Civil Protection had installed the network,
utilizing it for real-time fixed video surveillance, "wearable"
mobile video and voice communications to/from field emergency
personnel. Using LTE-WiFi routers, free WiFi access was provided to
civilians who took shelter in tent camps for months.
PriMo is completely self-contained and, although
interoperability is available, it requires no connectivity to
external networks in order to operate. Its "IT-friendly" Mobile
Core Network software, unique user control features and simplified
management make it easy to deploy to provide critical broadband
communications during emergencies. Therefore PriMo allows an
emergency organization with basic IT skills to immediately create
broadband mobile coverage granting local and global voice, data and
video traffic using standard devices (LTE, 3G, WiFi) with full
authentication and Quality of Service policies.
Karim El Malki, Athonet's CEO, stated "We are thrilled to be
nominated for the prestigious Global Mobile Awards and all of us at
Athonet are very proud to have given our contribution in support of
emergency workers and those living in the disaster-struck areas of
Northern Italy. PriMo has proven to be a reliable 24/7 solution for
mission critical communications in a real disaster situation,
handling 50 terabytes of video, voice and other data during 5
months of continuous use".
Marco Tessarotto, officer of Protezione Civile della Regione
Autonoma Friuli Venezia Giulia, stated "The excellent results
obtained during the earthquake emergency in Emilia Romagna are not
accidental but are a result of the excellent cooperation between
Protezione Civile della Regione Autonoma Friuli Venezia Giulia and
Athonet, who have integrated their respective excellences in the
fields of emergency management and telecommunications to develop
and put into operation the first application based on broadband LTE
technology in the field of Civil Protection and public safety, in
support of the people displaced by the earthquake, emergency
workers and volunteers providing help to the displaced population.
Our experience on the field proves that LTE has a bright future for
public safety and Civil Protection applications".
About Athonet
Athonet, an Italian high-tech company, was founded based on the
vision that mobile data usage would increase dramatically, creating
a burden on mobile operator networks that would affect the quality
of consumer and in particular mission-critical business
services.
Athonet believes that "the software is the network" and that
mobile networks will be able to address growing capacity and
coverage needs only by distributing and virtualizing mobile network
functionality just as is happening on the Internet and in
enterprise networks.
For this reason Athonet developed PriMo, a complete, compact,
distributed, high performance, transportable network solution
supporting LTE, UMTS/HSPA, WiFi and CDMA. PriMo is the best choice
for public safety, large enterprises, hospitals, campuses,
smartgrids, regional or rural green-field operators and small cell
deployments.
About Protezione Civile Regione Autonoma Friuli Venezia
Giulia
Protezione Civile della Regione Autonoma Friuli Venezia Giulia,
established by the Regional Law No. 64 of 1986, is the Regional
Authority in the field of civil protection. Its tasks are the
prediction, the prevention of natural and man-made risks, the
coordination of emergencies and the reconstruction and the
restoration of normal conditions after the occurrence of a
disaster. Protezione Civile manages monitoring natural risks and
the procedure for alerting system in case of natural event or
emergency. Protezione Civile della Regione Autonoma Friuli Venezia
Giulia is part of the national system of Civil Protection.
Protezione Civile della Regione Autonoma Friuli Venezia Giulia has
a proven history of technological research and participation in
scientific projects directed to the improvement and/or development
of novel solutions to be used during civil protection
emergencies.