Motorola wins wireless interoperability contract with Md. county

Motorola Inc. won a $12.7 million contract from Anne Arundel County, Md., to provide the county with an integrated public safety system, the company announced March 5.

Under the contract, Motorola of Schaumberg, Ill., will replace the county's existing 15 year-old legacy system with a new 800 MHz, 16-channel digital system that will support interoperable public safety communications throughout the county.

The new system will enable police and fire departments throughout the county to communicate with each other and with other agencies such as the Maryland State Police when multi-jurisdictional response is required.

The county plans to purchase 1,100 Motorola digital mobile and portable phones for public safety personnel to use with the system.

As part of the project, the company will upgrade infrastructure at four existing tower sites to make wireless coverage more reliable.

Anne Arundel County, which has a population of 490,000, is where the Maryland capital in Annapolis is located. The new public safety system is scheduled to go online in 2004, the company said.

Motorola, a provider of integrated communications and information solutions, has more than 111,000 employees and had annual sales of $26.7 billion in 2002.