Providing 911 operations for 23 cities in the County of Orange, California is a constant challenge. The OCFA wanted to increase the reliability of its systems and embrace new technology to improve the working environment of its dispatchers. Citizens who dial 911 expect help in critical situations; therefore, 911 call centers need to work efficiently to respond promptly and reliably to dispatch the necessary assistance for many different types of emergency situations.

Emergency Command centers also need to have the resources and infrastructure to be able to handle responses to ongoing daily demand as well as large-scale disasters. With the volume of calls and the percentage of non-emergency calls growing, and nearly one third of emergency calls coming in from cell phones, dispatchers face more challenges than ever before. The main objectives when updating the OCFA Command Center included improving ergonomics for each console and utilizing standard IP infrastructure throughout the building. Up to 18 dispatch consoles; each with one operative and five screens had to be able to access four computers located away from the operatives in an access and climate-controlled area. Not only this, but the OCFA Emergency Command Center is a 24/7 operation and is built with full redundancy. The upgrade needed to take place without disrupting this critical public service.

The smooth deployment of the Adder solution has provided a new and critical infrastructure for the 911 dispatching operations. Control room operators can now instantly access any of the computers located in a separate sever room quickly and seamlessly in order to provide critical services for the emergency response role. Not only has this greatly improved the ergonomics of each user station by removing noisy and heat producing computers away from the workstation, it also means that operators are spending less time working on connectivity issues, therefore allowing more time for dispatchers to work on mission-critical tasks without interruption.