News

Jul 11, 2023

The Critical Communications Review

Source: The Critical Communications Review | Gert Jan Wolf editor The Department of Justice issues a five year task order to expand ESChat secure broadband Push-to-Talk service within the Drug

Source: The Critical Communications Review | Gert Jan Wolf editor

The Department of Justice issues a five year task order to expand ESChat secure broadband Push-to-Talk service within the Drug enforcement Administration.

The Department of Justice has awarded a multi-year task order for broadband Push-to-Talk (PTT) service to ESChat. Broadband PTT service provides radio-like communication on smartphone, tablet and PC devices over commercial wireless networks. The Task Order, which includes a base one-year term and four option years was issued via the company’s General Services Administration’s (GSA) contract. The award will grow ESChat’s existing footprint within the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), which began using ESChat in 2013.

Used by all branches of the U.S. Military, as well as federal, state and local public safety agencies, ESChat is able to operate over and across any wireless network, including all commercial carriers, private 3G/4G/5G networks and WiFi. ESChat supports standards-based interoperability with LMR radio networks, including P25 via the native Inter RF Subsystem Interface (“ISSI”) protocol and DMR via the native Inter Application Interface Specification (“AIS”) protocol. ESChat also supports interoperability via RoIP to all LMR radio networks, regardless of radio technology or operating frequency band.

In addition to the Department of Justice, ESChat is also used within eight other Executive Departments of the United States government, in addition to state and local law enforcement agencies across the nation. ESChat’s broad adoption by public safety enables its customers to opt-in to create secure inter-agency communication channels. In a common use case, multiple agencies, sometimes operating on different wireless carriers create ESChat channels that facilitate secure cross-agency communications.