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Welcome to our library of blogs, case studies and news.
We've been shortlisted as a finalist with our hosted control room technology in the 'Best use of Control Room Systems' category, and our very own Ermin Huremovic is a finalist for the 'Young Engineer of the Year' at the prestigious International Critical Communications Awards. We'll attend the awards ceremony on 15 May 2018, which is taking place in Berlin, where the winner will be unveiled.
Cortex, our control room ICCS, has been accredited by the Network Approval Testing Service (NATS) and is the first to be officially certified to support the Emergency Services Network.
The unsung heroes of Britain’s blue light services have been honoured in the first national awards for control room staff. The APD Control Room Awards 2018 celebrate the extraordinary and selfless contribution of behind-the-scenes staff who play a critical role in the response to emergency incidents day in and day out, often dealing with harrowing and distressing situations.
We're delighted to announce that we're backing the drive to develop a new generation of tech talent by supporting Hull’s employer-led school. In light of our position as a market leader developing software for emergency services organisations and mission-critical operations, we've become a Major Partner of the pioneering Ron Dearing University Technical College (UTC).
Shortlisted entries recognised the extraordinary, behind-the-scenes contribution of control room staff in serving society, keeping the public safe and secure, and responding to the most difficult and harrowing situations and emergency incidents.
The Control Room Awards, which we launched in November 2017, are the first to recognise and reward the unsung heroes within critical control rooms across the UK. The event has been endorsed by several emergency services organisations, including British APCO, and is being supported by a handful of generous sponsors – telent as the platinum partner, alongside Sopra Steria, Seed Software, ICCRA and Red Box Recorders.
Two pioneering technology companies have been announced as the latest sponsors of the first national Control Room Awards. Both organisations have long-standing relationships within emergency and critical control rooms.
We've been shortlisted as a finalist in the 'Innovation of the Year' category at the respected Excellence in Fire and Emergency Awards and will attend a ceremony on 8 December, where the winner will be unveiled. This comes just three weeks after being crowned winner of the 'Innovation and Technology' award at the Hull Daily Mail Business Awards on 16 November.
Today, we launched the first awards to recognise and celebrate unsung heroes working behind the scenes in control rooms across the UK. The awards are the first to recognise the achievements of control room staff in their day-to-day duties, often dealing with harrowing and distressing situations.
Mission critical solutions specialist APD Communications is supporting a Wiltshire Police team on a sponsored cycle ride to raise funds for a guide dogs charity.
Partially-sighted Anthony Bristowe, Police Call Handler with the Wiltshire force, is aiming to raise £5,000 for the Guide Dogs Organisation by embarking on a 250-mile journey from Land’s End to Bradford on Avon, Wiltshire.
At an exclusive awards event held on 7 September in Hull - UK City of Culture 2017 - APD was crowned the winner of the Best Hardware with its fleet and telematics technology, Artemis.
Cutting-edge technology developed by Hull-based APD Communications is to be pushed to the limits during an internationally-renowned rally.
Celebrated each June, Pride Month is about celebrating love, acceptance, education, and awareness, while acknowledging equality for the LGBTQ community.
What’s magical is that this celebration is for everyone: no matter who or how we love, or how we identify, Pride is about diversity – and it’s wonderful to see such integral involvement by our emergency services.
In this Learning Zone series, we explore in more detail the newest and most exciting technology on the horizon for the emergency services. In this issue, we’re looking at drones and their application in this environment. Stay tuned over the coming months for insights on augmented and virtual reality, driverless vehicles, robotics, smart cities and artificial intelligence.
Managing control room demand is one of the biggest operational challenges faced by the emergency services. Between February and April 2018, we carried out a survey to discover, in more detail, the challenges facing control rooms across the UK. Let’s take a look at the early insights from the initial data analysis.
As we move closer to the Emergency Services Network (ESN) completion date, we've reviewed the current status of 4G coverage and the challenges involved in deploying this network - even in the most difficult of geographic locations. From planning to commercial and technical considerations, read this post for a full breakdown of what's going on behind the scenes in readiness for the switch.
Social Media use within the emergency services has grown significantly in recent years, with the majority of services using at least one social media network. In this post we’ll take a look at how social media is being used by the emergency services and also at some of the pros and cons of its use.
There has been a number of updates in recent weeks on the status of the Emergency Services Network (ESN) both from parliament and at the recent BAPCO event. In this post we’ll take a look at recent announcements, both of the network itself and new device launches.
To help map and understand some of these technologies, we asked the question: How is mobile technology changing our lives and how might this be used to support our emergency services? Read on for the findings.
Discover how our cloud-based solutions are helping under-pressure emergency services to manage demand and protect their investments in control room solutions. Find out how you can leverage the latest technology to unlock a flexible, secure and cost efficient solution for your control room in this latest article.
Managing demand is one of the biggest operational challenges faced by the emergency services - and we want to help.
The demand for ever-increasing efficiencies within the Public Sector is creating significant challenges for the emergency services.
As we head towards this point in the year, it's a good time to think about those less fortunate than us for whom, the festive period represents increased hours and very often increased demand for service.
In our latest ESN blog post we look at the recent news regarding Samsung being contracted to supply the UK emergency services with smartphones and other accessories, as well as examples of mobile devices and applications being tested by forces across the UK.
Gain insight into various techniques for ensuring the validity of emergency services' vehicle collision data and new approaches for visualising crash data.
We recently surveyed emergency services professionals about various aspects of the transition to ESN. Unsurprisingly Coverage, Availability & Resilience came out as most important aspects from a network perspective. In this post we’ll explore the current status of all three areas and give some industry insight as to the progress being made towards a fit for purpose ESN network.
During August and September of 2017, we surveyed the emergency services about various aspects of the transition to ESN. In this whitepaper we will discuss some of the results.
Learn about telematics with our three-part series. Building on part one - uncovering the basics of this technology, part two focuses on how to create a business case and build buy-in.
Migrating to ESN is one of the biggest technological challenges the emergency services have faced in the last 20 years and we're here to help.
On 19 July, our online customer portal – The APD Community - went live. This is a secure online platform where you can discuss all things ESN, get the latest updates and knowledge articles and raise and update support cases.
Learn about telematics with our three-part series. Get started with a simple overview of what it is and how it can benefit your organisation, particularly in the emergency services sector.
To take advantage of the benefits of new emerging digital technology, such as IP telephony and the Emergency Services Network, many emergency services' control rooms are facing the need to replace their analogue systems with the digital equivalents.
Following on from the previous Future of Telematics post, what are the potential risks and benefits of integrating to the control room?
I was in a police force recently where a young girl threatened to commit suicide. Police were dispatched to the location incredibly quickly and thankfully the girl was found safe.
In this instance, it was made possible by integrating telematics into the control room.
Given the advances in technology and data capabilities, it is no surprise that Emergency Services are taking advantage of the improved capabilities of telematics.
So how will these capabilities benefit your fleet?
Superseding the robust and proven platform of its predecessor, INCA CoOrdinator, Artemis was developed to meet the increasing demands of the UK Police, in line with the ACPO ITS One Box Project.
APD’s Artemis solution helps police forces, councils and local governments improve the way their vehicles are driven and their resources are deployed. Previously, individual customers had to install and manage the hardware, related WAN and mobile data/SIMs needed to run Artemis — but that’s all changed since APD partnered with UKCloud to offer Artemis as a service, hosted on its UK-sovereign, UK-assured platform.
In March 2014, North Yorkshire Police decided to extend Aspire across all Front Counters in their force area. The aim was to better support Front Counter staff in providing an improved customer service.
Northamptonshire Police needed to make savings of £17 million by 2015. And a further £23 million by 2017. The Force have had to look hard at its operations with an ambitious transformation programme underway. Artemis has helped make savings and increase efficiency across their fleet.
At the heart of two control centres, Dubai International Airport have chosen APD’s Cortex system. The Emirates Group, which includes one of the world’s major airlines relies on the Integrated Communications Control System. It enables the control room operators to manage all radio,telephone, intercom and web services. Not to mention linking 6,500 ground staff throughout the airport.
With the UK Government’s cloud first policy, it’s time to start moving your ICCS and fleet telematics solutions to the cloud. But what will you get out of it other than compliance? And what about data security?