In this exclusive Q&A, Selim Bouri, Vice President and GM, Head of Middle East Africa and APAC at Airbus Secure Land Communications, discusses the company’s presence at the upcoming World Police Summit.
How important is it to Airbus to attend the World Police Summit and why?
The World Police Summit in Dubai is one of the leading global meetings for policing and law enforcement. Among other things, the summit will highlight the role of technologies in safeguarding our communities. As a strong proponent of the proper utilisation of intelligent tools for the maintenance of law and order in our society,
Airbus sees the event as a strategic platform to showcase its mission-critical communication and collaboration solutions. We will demonstrate how our technologies can support police forces and law enforcers as they perform their job of protecting lives and infrastructure. Furthermore, the summit is an ideal venue for us to engage not only with international police and law enforcement leaders but also with policymakers, governments, and other stakeholders.
What can visitors expect to see if they visit the Airbus booth at the World Police Summit?
At our exhibition stand, visitors will get to experience firsthand our wide range of technologies used mainly by first responders, security forces, and emergency and public safety personnel, amongst others. Our team of specialists will be on hand to tackle the features of our mission-critical solutions, including Tactilon Agnet, TACteam, Tactilon Agnet’s Workflow management, Everus Manpack, and Tactilon Dabat.
Tactilon Agnet is a collaboration solution that provides professional smartphone users with reliable access to voice, video, multimedia, files, local information, and real-time location tracking services. It ensures instant sharing of information with a defined group of people at the push of a button. Wherever there is broadband coverage, it can function on a wide range of devices such as regular iOS and Android smartphones, radios, and special gadgets and gears.
TACteam is our collaborative mobile application for smartphones, tablets, and PCs. It allows users to produce a detailed status report of the situation in a few minutes, even geo-locate it if necessary. It also enables the planning of the tactical aspects of the operation on top of supporting real-time coordination as the operation progresses. TACteam is designed for every component of the chain of command and operation, including the authorities, crisis room, command post, operational factors in play, and external support.
Our Tactilon Agnet’s Workflow is a process management solution that facilitates collaboration and the flow of information between different departments, units, or teams. From a simple form to approval processes, passing through the management of successive tasks, the solution, which contains a configuration menu, addresses logistic or maintenance needs.
As for our Everus Manpack, it is a portable LTE tactical bubble embedded with Tactilon Agnet. Light, easy to use, the device enables voice and video services with a direct connection to the headquarters. This helps the teams on the ground to quickly send and receive important information. The one-of-a-kind tool also gives the control rooms an overview of the location of different users and teams thanks to its geo-localisation features.
Last but not least is our Tactilon Dabat, a hybrid terminal combining the best of Tetra and LTE in one device. Its Dabat Hybrid Roaming feature is a pioneering development solution that allows users to seamlessly switch between Tetra and LTE networks for extended periods. The automatic switchover functionality is crucial, especially in situations where Tetra coverage is sparse.
Given the uplift in cyberattacks on organisations, from a critical communications perspective, are we seeing an increase in demand for secure communication tools?
Security threats and challenges are undoubtedly getting more complicated these days when cities and societies are becoming more connected. This drives demand for secure communication technologies, and we are confident that the upward trend will continue as we steadily establish a digital global society. Equipping our police forces with mission-critical communication and collaboration solutions results in a faster and better response to incidents such as crimes and emergencies. Through our solutions, they are empowered to perform their job more confidently with secure and efficient access to the right information and the right people at the right time. Access to trusted data means the right decisions are being made quickly, which translates to more effective protection of our people and more efficient organisational operations.
Airbus advocates connected intelligence. How does this transpose to delivery? Can advanced solutions and apps be used to protect safety at major events, for example?
Security systems that share intelligence and collaborate seamlessly with one another are crucial to empowering first responders and enabling them to focus fully on their mission. Such systems are especially necessary when securing major, large events. If each team member is connected via their communication and collaboration tools, the response is more rapid, coordinated, and efficient.
Our solutions are equipped with modern features to provide users— even those carrying different devices—with the capability to have access to the full picture of the situation in minutes, share data securely, and communicate fast, all of which are vital during emergencies and crises. Over the last 6 month major events including Beijing Winter Olympics 2022, Munich Security Conference 2022, Dubai Expo 2020, Abu Dhabi Grand prix 2021 and Dubai Airshow to mention a few.
