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Monroe County, NY, and Harris Corporation to Collaborate on Development of New Public Safety Communications Technologies

Posted on: Monday, 16 March 2009, 11:30 CDT

Initial Project Involves First Field Trials of Harris Unity XG(TM)-100 Radio, Developed to Provide Full-Spectrum Communications Interoperability at the Federal, State and Local Level

ROCHESTER, N.Y., March 16 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Harris Corporation (NYSE: HRS), an international communications and information technology company, has announced an agreement with Monroe County, New York, to collaborate on the testing and development of new public safety communications technologies, including the Harris Unity XG-100, the new multiband, multimode radio that provides full-spectrum communications interoperability to public safety and government agencies.

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20090316/FL84191 )

The company has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Monroe County's Department of Public Safety, a recognized leader in the performance evaluation and adoption of new technologies. The agreement calls for the Public Safety Department, which procures radios for every public safety agency in Monroe County, to provide feedback and evaluation of the XG-100 as well as other Harris-developed public safety communications products. The agreement was announced at a press conference today in Rochester by Maggie Brooks, Monroe County Executive, and Dana Mehnert, president of Harris RF Communications.

The Harris Unity XG-100 provides instantaneous, direct, full-spectrum communications interoperability among federal, state, local and government agencies. Current radio systems for public safety are only compatible through ad-hoc work-around systems often configured at the time of an emergency. Harris introduced the first multiband radio for public safety.

"We're pleased to begin field trials for the Unity radio family in Monroe County, an area with innovative, forward-thinking public safety and law enforcement personnel," Dana Mehnert said. "When we entered the public safety market, we pledged to apply our expertise in software-defined, multiband radios to address the long-standing communication challenges facing public safety organizations and their first responders. This partnership with Monroe County will accelerate the development and enhance the effectiveness of our communications solutions."

"Today's announcement is a wonderful example of how government and the private sector can come together and forge a relationship that is not only beneficial to them, but also has an immediate impact on the taxpayers of our community," Monroe County Executive Maggie Brooks said. "Public safety has been, and will always be, a top priority for Monroe County. Ensuring that our first responders, law enforcement, EMS, and other public safety workers are equipped with state-of-the-art technology to perform their duties is a win-win for our entire community."

"The Unity family of radios is based on our heritage as the leading provider of high-performance software-defined tactical radios for military users. We are now on our third-generation of multiband tactical radios, with hundreds of thousands deployed all over the world," said George Helm, vice president and general manager, Government and Public Safety Business unit, Harris RF Communications. "Harris is committed to applying this expertise to solve the increasingly complex communication problems of government and public safety personnel. We're looking forward to collaborating with Monroe County personnel to gain further insights into the issues facing first responders and other government communicators."

The Unity XG-100 is the first in a family of Harris radios designed to allow federal, state, and local public safety agencies to communicate more effectively. The new radio covers all portable land mobile radio frequency bands in a single radio and is compliant with the APCO Project 25, a suite of standards for digital radio communications for use by federal, state, and local public safety agencies.

The multiband capability of the radio will also allow public safety agencies to efficiently transition to new networks, including the newly available 700 MHz frequency band. The Unity XG-100 is easily upgradeable via software updates to support evolving P25 standards, future capabilities and changing mission requirements.

For more information on Unity and Harris capabilities in public safety, go to www.talkasone.com.

About Harris Corporation

Harris is an international communications and information technology company serving government and commercial markets in more than 150 countries. Headquartered in Melbourne, Florida, the company has annual revenue of $5.4 billion and 16,000 employees - including nearly 7,000 engineers and scientists. Harris is dedicated to developing best-in-class assured communications(R) products, systems, and services. Additional information about Harris Corporation is available at www.harris.com.

SOURCE Harris Corporation

Source: PR Newswire

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