Ga. county taps M/A-Com for public safety radio

Public safety and utility workers in Newton County, Ga., will count on a new radio system being implemented by M/A-Com for better communications in emergencies and day-to-day activities.

Terms of the $4.5 million contract call for M/A-Com to deploy an OpenSky 700/800 MHz network solution that will provide both voice and data communications through one in-vehicle radio. OpenSky is a private, wireless communications network based on IP technologies.

The network initially will serve 575 users, but can expand to accommodate more than 1,300 users. The system, which will have two high-profile antennae sites and five cell sites, will enable communications interoperability with surrounding agencies.

Newton County is located 35 miles east of Atlanta, and contains the city of Covington, Ga. The county has a population of about 82,000.

The new radio system will be used by the county's fire, sheriff, emergency medical services departments and the police and fire departments in the cities of Covington, Oxford and Porterdale. The system eventually will be used by all county and city utilities as well, M/A-Com said.

M/A-Com is a unit of Tyco Electronics Corp., which is one of five business segments of Tyco International Ltd., Princeton, N.J. The parent company has more than 250,000 employees and had annual sales of $39.7 billion in fiscal 2005, according to Hoover's Online of Austin, Texas.