News
Madesco Technologies accepted into the coveted Department of Defense "FirstLink"
program.
For immediate release:
Victoria, BC - Madesco Technologies announced today it has been accepted into
the coveted Department of Defense "FirstLink" program. "This
is another milestone for our company" says Larry Cole, CEO of Madesco,
"FirstLink provides that pivotal role of assisting Madesco in getting our
advanced team communications solutions in front of first responder and military
clients in the United States". Madesco is a pioneer in unified interoperable
team communications solutions (TeamComms™)
that is creating a considerable groundswell of interest in public safety and
military circles.
Allen Jones, the operations manager of the U.S. Department of Defense's FirstLink
program, says "We welcome Madesco into the program and look forward to
working more closely with them". In a recent Globe
& Mail article Mr Jones went on to say "Communication has been
identified to us as the number one problem at a major happening. Radio and telephone
systems don't all talk to each other. We see TeamComms™
as a major tool in solving that problem."
The tragedies of 9/11, Katrina and the London bombings all share a common thread
of poor radio communications, putting first responders and public safety officials
at great personal risk, or in the case of 9/11, causing deaths. This is a serious
issue and it has the attention of all levels of government north and south of
the border.
As recently noted by US Congressman Bart Stupak "The attacks on 9/11 were
horrendous attacks on our country and showed us some of our vulnerabilities.
Now, in addition to that tragedy, we find that some of those deaths may have
been prevented had there been a more adequate communications system in place,"
Stupak said. "This information is an extremely unfortunate example of a
vulnerability that exists in communities across the country. With more than
80 percent of America's local first responders not able to interoperate, or
communicate with their counterparts, the inability of first responders to communicate
with each other is more than a major concern; it's a threat to our national
security." He went on to observe that, "America cannot wait for another
terrorist attack and suffer the loss of lives because first responders cannot
communicate with each other. As founder of the Congressional Law Enforcement
Caucus, we have demonstrated how the interoperability problem can be solved
using today's technology. I challenge the administration to apply this technology
today to keep Americans safe."
According to Cole "Admitting there is a problem with communications is
only the first step in a complicated process of developing affordable solutions
that make sense to end users and the tax payers who pay for the equipment. Governments
have already spent billions of dollars on communications equipment, so we felt
the solutions we were developing had to take into account all of the legacy
radios already owned by these agencies. We took the time to sit and listen to
the needs of the people who use this type equipment, the feet on the street
folks. What does their world look like? What is important to these men and women?
The public constantly asks them to put their personal safety on the line each
time they go out to do their jobs, but is the equipment they currently use effective?
It was remarkable how similar the issues were whether it was police, fire, search
and rescue, border patrol, corrections, the list is long. So we gathered this
information and began the process of developing TeamComms™,
a wireless, hands-free, fully duplex mobile communications system to enable
users to hear and be heard at the individual, team and command levels simultaneously!
"
FirstLink's support is consistent with the feedback we received from Bruce Aitken,
President of Washington, DC based Homeland Security Industries Association who
said "...we believe that Madesco's TeamComms™
technology is in the right place at the right time." Larry Cole concludes
"With all the additional attention we have been receiving, Madesco is accelerating
our funding efforts to commercialize TeamComms™,
this is truly an exhilarating time at Madesco!"
About Madesco Technologies
Madesco Technologies is private company that was founded to take advantage
of a unique gap in the communications market for Public Safety First Responders
and Military. There exists a highly profitable opportunity for a unifying device
that ties together various forms of legacy and specialized communications gear
and also becomes the platform for enhanced communications. In the entire spectrum
of person to person radio communications gear, multiple layers of communication
technologies and diverse vendors has resulted in isolation and incompatibility
at the individual level, hampering effective immediate team level communication.
This presents a threat to personal safety during an emergency or terrorist attack.
To help counter these potentially devastating issues for public safety officials,
Madesco is developing TeamComms™. For more
information please visit our website at http://www.madesco.ca.
About US Department of Defense FirstLink
FirstLink was established
as the nations first Department of Defense (DOD) Technology Transfer and Commercialization
National Center of Excellence for First Responder Technologies through a Partnership
Intermediary Agreement with the United
States Department of Defense Office of Technology Transition and the Air
Force Research Laboratory (AFRL). Our mission is to increase the rate at
which first responder technologies are commercialized and transferred to the
market place, where they can be made available to our nation's first responders
through U.S. manufacturers and small businesses. FirstLink supports the transition
of technology from DOD laboratories to market by conducting initial technical
reviews, market analysis, and identification of potential industry or private
sector partners. There are nearly three million federal, state, and local first
responders - fire fighters, law enforcement personnel, and emergency medical
teams. Their role includes not only providing basic safety to United States
citizens, but also securing our nation's home front. Their need for the best
technologies and equipment is more critical than ever.
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