On a recent NENA webinar, we spoke with Stephen Weinkauf, NG911 Bureau Chief for the State of New Mexico and Sam Bard, Director of Product Management for Motorola Solutions call routing and ESINet services, about the challenges and considerations in deploying a statewide Next Generation call routing network in a primarily rural state. This blog highlights the key points Stephen and Sam made. Click here for the NENA recording.
Challenges, solutions, & network diversity
When New Mexico implemented call routing statewide, they faced a reality many rural areas know well: long distances, difficult terrain and highly inconsistent legacy network infrastructure. Traditional assumptions, like finding two diverse MPLS (Multiprotocol Label Switching) paths to every PSAP, simply did not hold up. A statewide assessment revealed something even more concerning: much of the “diversity” on paper wasn’t diversity at all. Multiple carriers often shared the same conduit underground, meaning a single dig could take out every connection a PSAP (Public Safety Answering Point) relied on.
Replacing the legacy network
In deploying the New Mexico call routing network, Motorola Solutions replaced the legacy network in full. As Sam pointed out, “With NG9-1-1, we expect the bandwidth required to continue to increase because we’re moving beyond voice to multimedia—video, images, and sensor data. Traditional networks, especially in many rural areas, simply can’t keep up.” The good news is the network design in place for New Mexico will.
One size doesn’t fit all
The call routing deployment was not a “one size fits all.” Instead, each PSAP location was assessed individually to understand what infrastructure existed and then determine what network technology would deliver true diversity and resilience. For many New Mexico PSAPs, it isn’t a matter of choosing one network provider versus another; it’s about building a resilient connection where no good traditional options exist.
The solution is to not rely on a single type of connection and certainly not a single commodity transport provider. Motorola Solutions call routing architecture embraces network diversity by layering technologies. Some sites are best served by terrestrial broadband. Others had no viable wired options at all. Many required a mix of microwave internet, wireless broadband, Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite or carefully placed MPLS where it could be delivered without the same single points of failure.
One network
Utilizing diverse transport paths is only half of the solution. The connections must also be orchestrated to behave as one stable, reliable network. That’s where SD-WAN comes in. New Mexico’s ESInet (Emergency Services IP Network) utilizes SD-WAN to actively distribute workload and payloads across the individual transport paths in an orchestrated way— not as primary and backup links, but as a unified system that constantly monitors performance.
As Sam explained, “SD-WAN is like a six-lane highway. All lanes of travel—MPLS, satellite, broadband, and diverse paths—are active at the same time. You’re using all the lanes. If one lane slows down or a pothole develops, the system intelligently moves traffic to a better lane, seamlessly. You don’t ‘failover’; you just change lanes.”
Policy Routing
But what happens if the ‘highway’ is wide open, but the ‘destination’—the PSAP itself—is closed due to an evacuation or a power failure? Stephen pointed out that this is where Policy Routing comes in. Stephen explained that Policy Routing is the other critical layer of redundancy because it is the logical plan that sits on top of the network. It defines what happens to a call if a PSAP can’t answer. New Mexico has predefined rules so if PSAP A, for any reason, goes offline, the system doesn’t just drop the call. It instantly reroutes it to the next available PSAP—say, PSAP B or C—all based on the policy. Policy Routing helps to ensure the 9-1-1 call is always answered by a person.
Cloud-native call routing for statewide resilience
Perhaps the most transformative piece of this deployment is the shift to Motorola Solutions’ cloud-native VESTA NXT Router. Instead of relying on physical data centers inside the state, New Mexico’s routing logic now lives across multiple secure cloud regions nationwide. A regional outage, fiber cut or local disaster no longer threatens call delivery.
Lessons learned
The main lesson learned is that the New Mexico deployment proves we can operate PSAPs entirely off internet-based technologies, when that is the best option. Because of New Mexico’s challenges, we had to lean heavily into diversity with satellite and wireless broadband. And it works.
The promise of NG9-1-1 is to go beyond traditional voice giving PSAPs the opportunity for multimedia – sharing data with their communities and each other. This compounds the challenge in rural areas where traditional infrastructure simply can’t meet that need. To fulfill the promise of NG911, we have to look at alternative methods.
To hear the full discussion with New Mexico, including lessons learned and real PSAP examples, watch the complete NENA webinar.
For more information on Next Gen call routing, visit these blogs:
