From the launch of our first mobile radio for public safety in the 1930’s, to the first “walkie-talkies” for soldiers during World War II, to reliable communications for the first astronauts on the moon, Motorola Solutions has always been a pioneer and innovator in push-to-talk (PTT) communications. The history of PTT technology is inextricably tied to our own, and we’re proud of the role Motorola Solutions has played in shaping the devices, networks and standards on which public safety relies.
We Know Push-to-Talk Communications
We may have introduced the first mobile radio for public safety, but we didn’t stop there. By the 1940’s we had introduced FM technology to public safety radios and, in 1962, we delivered the first transistorized portable radio to first responders. In 1977, we were the first to offer digital encryption technology for PTT and, in 1991, developed the world’s first narrowband digital PTT communications system for public safety.
In 1993, we started the evolution of push-to-talk to cellular networks with the introduction of the Integrated Digital Enhanced Network (iDEN) technology. Since then we have been at the forefront in bringing broadband PTT communications to public safety with the first deployment of MCPTT-compliant features in 2018 and followed that with the launch of MCVideo-compliant streaming video in 2019.
We Are Driving The Development Of Industry Standards For Broadband PTT
Motorola Solutions has distinguished itself as a leader in the development of industry standards for broadband push-to-talk communications. Motorola Solutions was an architect for the OMA (Open Mobile Alliance) PoC specifications, and we served as the Rapporteur for OMA’s Push-to-Communicate for Public Safety (PCPS) spec. We are also an active participant in the definition of the 3GPP Mission Critical PTT (MCPTT) Standard, having served as the Vice-Chair of the SA WG6 working group and Work Item Rapporteurs for several key technical specifications.
As a result of our long-standing support of standards development process, our KODIAK broadband PTT platform is fully compliant with the 3GPP MCPTT standard. Its system architecture, common and platform services, network interfaces, key performance indicators (KPIs) and push-to-talk features all comply with the technical specifications that make up the standard. In addition, the KODIAK platform has already demonstrated compliance with key areas of the standard, such as registration and authorization, identity management, private and group calling, location reporting, and ambient listening.
Public Safety Is Central To Who We Are
No carrier, OEM, or direct competitor understands public safety, its workflows and unique communication requirements better than Motorola Solutions. For more than 90 years, we have been at the forefront of providing public safety with the secure, reliable PTT communications they can depend on to keep them connected, informed and safe And, we brought that decades of experience to the definition of the 3GPP MCPTT standard, ensuring that it not only mirrors mission-critical voice communication services but that it also provides public safety with the advanced multimedia PTT communications needed to enhance situational awareness and improve operational efficiency.
And, along the way we’ve achieved some significant milestones since Motorola Solutions and KODIAK first started delivering fast, secure, reliable broadband push-to-talk communication:
- 500+ deployments in 38 countries, including the top 50 U.S. cities
- Integration with the network, customer care, and operations systems of leading wireless carriers globally
- Over 1 million end-users.
It is this unique combination of push-to-talk knowledge, standards and technology leadership, and deployment experience that allows us to provide public safety and enterprise users with the broadband PTT portfolio that gets the right information to the right people at the right time over the right network in the moments that matter.
