Harris will build emergency radio network for NY county

Harris Corp. has received a $30 million contract to build a trunked emergency radio communications system and install terminal equipment to support up to 25,000 public-service and public-safety users in Monroe County, N.Y.

Monroe County, in Western New York state, is part of the Rochester, N.Y., metropolitan area.

Harris’ Voice, Interoperability, Data and Access network platform, known as VIDA, will provide Monroe County with a unified IP-based voice and data communication system based on industry standards, according to a company statement released today.

The Harris digital, standards-based P25 network will deliver reliable, flexible and scalable radio communications to support the county’s public-service and public-safety agencies, it said.

“This project ultimately will unite all of Monroe County’s public service and safety agencies under a single, modern digital communication system built on our powerful Harris VIDA network,” Dana Mehnert, group president of Harris RF Communications, said in the statement.

Harris UnityXG-100P portable and Unity mobile radios will operate directly with a number of systems in the Monroe County area, including the county's existing UHF conventional law enforcement system, the VHF fire services system and the UHF public-service system.

The radios also are compatible with users in neighboring counties and with state or federal users operating VHF, UHF, 700/800 MHz, analog or P25 radios, the Harris announcement said.

The work will be performed by Harris Public Safety and Professional Communications, a business unit of Harris RF Communications, which is based in Rochester.

Harris Corp., of Melbourne, Fla., ranks No. 13 on Washington Technology’s 2010 Top 100 list of the largest federal government prime contractors.