Newsmakers March 21-April 3: FirstNet opens technical HQ in Boulder

A new federal initiative to create a nationwide wireless broadband network for police and firefighters opened its technical headquarters in Boulder in the spring.

The First Responders Network Authority, or FirstNet, leased a 28,000-square-foot space at 3122 Sterling Circle where it plans to hire 100 employees who will begin designing the ground-breaking system dedicated to public safety.

Congress established FirstNet in 2012, allocating $7 billion for the build-out of a network that would help ensure first responders can communicate during public emergencies, when a surge of cell signals hitting the airwaves can often bog down networks.

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FirstNet is an independent authority within the National Telecommunications and Information Administration that is based in Northern Virginia. But it is in Boulder that engineers and other technical and support staff will work to design, test and set specifications for a nationwide network.

This area was chosen in part because of the proximity to the Public Safety Communications Research lab, a joint effort of the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the NTIA that is located in Boulder. The PSCR already has been focused on research, development and testing to improve first-responder communications. The area’s thriving telecommunications industry, meanwhile, could benefit by FirstNet’s arrival, as well as provide FirstNet with access to valuable expertise.

Operations in Boulder are expected to take at least a year to ramp up completely. PSCR operations and technical manager Jeff Bratcher led the initial efforts locally as deputy chief technology officer of FirstNet.

UPDATE

The FirstNet technical headquarters in Boulder so far employs about 20 people. That includes FirstNet chief technology officer Ali Afrashteh, who was hired in late April.

Afrashteh will be charged with planning, developing, monitoring and coordinating the implementation of all network activities within FirstNet. The technical office will also be responsible for testing various technologies to ensure that the network is built efficiently.

So far, those in the Boulder office have been largely focused on vendor and market research meetings, developing requests for proposal and providing support for early project builders like Adams County, which is building out its own first responders network that will be interoperable with the nationwide FirstNet network.

FirstNet as a whole has also been busy conducting consultations with public safety officials in all 50 states to understand the needs of each, as well as sending out requests for information to industry to assess the capabilities, opportunities, risks and business partnerships that could support construction of the network.