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FirstNet at CES

FirstNet also has to do with gadgets and apps.

The big gadget show of the year is the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) held every January in Las Vegas. Local and national news in this Seattle market have had segments coming from the show all this past week.

I expect, off to the side — somewhere, there was this breakout session CES 2017: Officials Talk FirstNet, Public Safety Technology that was attended by some. There they talked about the current and future need for the type of connectivity that FirstNet will bring. And, it will be important, not because your police car can talk to your home refrigerator, but it will have all sorts of connectivity options. Yes, apps and gadgets are important to first responders and emergency managers.

While not spoken about in the article, the big date coming up in a couple of months is a March 1 court hearing where the judge can throw out a suit brought by an "unwinner" (otherwise known as a loser!) of the FirstNet contract to build out the national system. If that happens, the three- to four-month delay will be history, and it will be off to the races in designing plans for all 50 states.

Steve Myers shared the link above.

Eric Holdeman is a contributing writer for Emergency Management magazine and is the former director of the King County, Wash., Office of Emergency Management.