Hybrid solutions

Critical communications are evolving towards broadband. Public safety organizations and businesses already use broadband enabled devices for less critical purposes, and now, with the new 5G capabilities, they could also adopt broadband push-to-talk, multimedia messaging and push-to-video features.

But which actions should organizations and businesses take to bring mission-critical broadband communications to life? How to make a success of introducing mission-critical broadband?

One thing is certain: forcing users to switch suddenly to a completely new technology risks disrupting operations severely. Instead, the technology shift should be a seamless evolution, not a disruptive migration. Hybrid solutions are therefore the ideal answer.

This page gives a thorough rundown of hybrid solutions, including an explanation of why these are important and how to adopt hybrid solutions – complete with practical tips. You will also learn about the important building blocks and find out how hybrid solutions work.

The hybrid broadband-narrowband network model has been developed for the purpose of delivering mission-critical reliability and broadband capabilities to public safety and professional organizations in a cost-effective way.

Seamless

The current PMR/LMR operators and radio users recognize that the adoption of new communication technology needs to take into account of how people work. The adoption should also take advantage of already made investments. Simply replacing the core communication technology with another does not meet those needs.

The technology shift must be a seamless evolution, not a disruptive migration.

Learn more from executive briefing: "How to minimize risks when introducing mission-critical broadband"

The move from traditional PMR to mission-critical broadband needs to include a hybrid phase – where digital or even analogue radio networks and LTE/4G/5G are used together. In an ideal case, there is interoperability between the networks, meaning that a talk group can easily include users from both/several networks. Also ideally, there is an integrated way to manage users even when they may have an account in both/several networks.

Learn more from blog post: "The question you should ask when people use TETRA radios and smartphones"

Gradual investment

In the hybrid network model, organizations can continue using their existing radio communications network and also introduce mobile broadband services. Using a hybrid network means investments can be made gradually as and when needed, offering long-term benefits by bridging existing narrowband networks and future solutions.

The broadband network can be developed in different ways depending on which applications are needed and the level of investment that can be supported.

Service Operator

One way of evolving towards broadband services is to start with a Service Operator that uses the services of one or more Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) for broadband coverage. Dedicated broadband capacity can be added as needed to improve coverage, or when applications become more mission-critical.

Learn more from white paper "Why Secure MVNO is your next smart move"

Not OR but AND

The time has come to start a smooth evolution to broadband in professional communications, to avoid a radical switch over night. Narrowband and broadband solutions will be used in parallel – the future is not an “or” but an “and”.

Professionals are increasingly using video, images and other data in their duties. This information needs to be integrated in their operational communications as well. The way to achieve this is through a strong push-to-x service like Agnet. 

Relevant, timely and easily consumed data and information will complement the critical voice communications for the benefit of professional users.

The blog post “How a hybrid TETRA and broadband network helps you avoid risks” gives you a few more pointers on this topic.

How to manage smart and hybrid devices and apps

How can we manage smart and hybrid devices as well as the apps that bring them to life? Learn the basics from blog post “Manage your smartphones, hybrid devices and apps – professionally”.

How to use TETRA and smartphones in a hybrid way

When you are wondering how TETRA fits with smartphones, check the blog post “How to use TETRA and smartphones in a hybrid way”.

What to know about battery life

There are five essential things to know about battery life before bringing smartphones or hybrid devices into professional use. Learn more from blog post “Battery life: What to look for in your duty smartphone?”

How to take NFC, RFID or IoT into account?

Why should your organization consider NFC, RFID or IoT related topics before introducing hybrid devices or advanced applications? Find the answer in blog post “15 things your boss expects you to know about RFID, NFC and IoT”

Watch this video to learn more about the possibilities of IoT and wearable solutions for professional users:

Hybrid management

There has to be a tool for managing organizations, talk groups and access rights in the hybrid environment. In addition, there has to be a link between a radio network subscriber and the equivalent entity in the broadband network.

Think of the thousands of users on a typical network: it would be enormously time consuming and expensive to manage every user individually and separately for different networks. It would probably be impossible!

You need a hybrid subscriber management tool capable of handling users, their access rights, talk groups and organizations - and the tool needs to handle this in several networks is needed. Tactilon Management is such a tool, unique in the mark

Learn more from blog post "What makes a great user management tool for hybrid networks?"

What about communication security?

Critical organizations need total security for their professional communications. In addition, it is vital to ensure security in other areas. There are seven strategies of communication security that need to be used so that operations do not become compromised. This blog post explains how to use 7 communication security strategies like the pros.