Pennsylvania microwave project cookin'

Pennsylvania recently finalized a $33 million contract with Alcatel USA to engineer, furnish, install and maintain a statewide microwave system to connect the commonwealth's Public Safety Radio Project.

The microwave system will serve as the foundation for a wireless communications project that will link 22 state public safety agencies. Microwave technology provides wide bandwidths for transporting voice and data information where network coverage is inadequate.

The system will help insure that agencies can communicate on a day-to-day basis regardless of their location in the state, said Don Appleby, project director for Pennsylvania's Radio Project Office.

Alcatel will provide digital microwave radios, digital cross connects, antennas, transmission lines and a network management system as part of the microwave backbone.

The company was originally selected for the microwave system when the statewide radio project was launched last summer. However, the contract specifics regarding pricing and equipment were only recently completed, said a company spokeswoman (see related article).