9-1-1 Honour During Obama Presidential Inauguration

The Outstanding 9-1-1 Program award honours one state or regional 9-1-1 program for excellence in serving the public, including the handling of emergency situations, in addition to the deployment and management of new technology. The OUC was recognized in this category for the successful implementation of a comprehensive program that supported public safety and security in Washington, DC during Inauguration Day.

The Obama presidential inauguration led to an unprecedented surge of calls into the OUC on the day of the inauguration, due to the influx of 1.8 million people to Washington, DC, to witness the historic event. The volume of calls to 9-1-1 increased by 50% over an average day, with nearly 6,000 calls for assistance. Of these calls, 96% were answered within five seconds. The average 3-1-1 call was answered within 30 seconds, meeting the target response rate for information and city services queries. More than 300 OUC personnel, including call-takers and IT professionals, were on duty to ensure all systems were optimised.

Designed to maximise the allocation of people, technology and business processes, the Unified Communications Center consolidates public communications functions of the DC Police; Fire and Emergency Medical Services (FEMS); Emergency Management Agency, and Public Services.
The Outstanding 9-1-1 Program award was presented as part of the Seventh Annual Honour Awards, which recognise the achievements and service of exceptional public safety communications professionals and organisations. The awards are sponsored by leading public safety industry associations including: the E9-1-1 Institute; the National Emergency Number Association (NENA); the Association of Public-Safety Communications-Officials (APCO) International; the National Association of State 9-1-1 Administrators (NASNA) and the 9-1-1 Industry Alliance (9IA).

One in 12 people in the world is protected by Intergraph public safety and security solutions. Intergraph solutions protect the largest and most complex cities and government sites in the world. Intergraph has extensive experience in providing public safety and security solutions for major events around the world. Intergraph's large-scale security event expertise includes protecting the thousands of attendees at the following events: the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver, BC; the 30th G8 Summit in Italy in July, 2009; the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy; the 2006 World Cup in Germany; the 2006 Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro; and the 2005 and 2009 United States presidential inaugurations, to name a few.