Sprint Supports Pope's NY Visit with P-T-P -- Pope, Where U At ?

By Editor Wireless and Mobile News on April 18, 2008 12:24 PM

Sprint, has been selected to provide critical communications support for Pope Benedict XVI’s historic visit to New York City. Sprint’s Emergency Response Team (ERT) is providing - upon request of the Archdiocese of New York (ADNY) - 600 Sprint phones, all of which include Nextel Direct Connect, Sprint’s premier push-to-talk service, which allows staff to communicate instantly during all activities related to the Papal visit.

”Robust communications are integral to the success of the Pope’s visit, and we decided to work with Sprint because of their industry-leading Nextel Direct Connect product and the instant connectivity that it will provide to our staff during all activities over the next few days,” said Joseph Zwilling, director of communications at the Archdiocese of New York. “The Sprint team has been very forthcoming with their technology and personnel, and we highly commend their participation.”

Sprint’s ERT will deploy 600 phones with Nextel Direct Connect.
40 phones will be used by the Elite Fleet, including the Pope’s Caravan, all Cardinals and the Vatican VIP personnel.
Key capabilities within the Nextel Direct Connect portfolio that the team will utilize include Group Connect, a unique capability that allows users to communicate with up to 20 other Nextel Direct Connect users at one time; Next Mail,which allows Nextel Direct Connect users to send a voice message to any email address and Blast Email via PTN Messaging.
The Pope’s caravan will be tracked through Actsoft’s Comet Tracker GPS solution loaded on Sprint phones; transmitting data over a secured network in near real-time for optimum security and accuracy.

“It was Nextel Direct Connect that originally brought us in contact with the ADNY. After several conversations and meetings, the ADNY operations team decided to utilize additional services including our mobile broadband cards and GPS application to ensure constant, reliable communications at all times,” says Chris Hackett, vice president of business and government solutions at Sprint. “Sprint is delighted to support the ADNY by providing them with a level of service that no one can match.”

Due to the functionality and reliability of Actsoft’s Comet Tracker product, Sprint chose this seamless solution to ensure the security of the Pope. Tom Mitchell, CEO and Founder of Actsoft Inc., states, “Actsoft is honored to contribute to the security and safety of such a prominent and prestigious world leader during his visit to New York City. Our GPS Solution has been selected again for its industry leadership position.”

Media attending the multiple events in New York City will also benefit from the power of Sprint Mobile Broadband, by having access to Sprint broadband cards available at all media centers established throughout the city and being able to submit their reports online at ultra-fast speeds. Reaching more than 246 million people (inclusive of data roaming), 15,556 cities and 1,486 airports coast-to-coast; Sprint Mobile Broadband allows customers to quickly download large files as well as to access high-speed data applications using a variety of solutions such as handheld devices and connection cards.

Sprint ERT provides rapidly deployable, scalable and reliable interoperable communications for emergencies, drills, and field exercises. These solutions from Sprint ERT provide critical communication and connectivity virtually anywhere, at anytime to government agencies, the military, and enterprise clients. To learn more about the Sprint ERT and interoperable communications from Sprint, contact the ERT via email at EmergencyResponseTeam@sprint.com, or call the 24x7 ERT Support Hotline at 1-888-639-0020. GETS Users can reach the ERT at 254-295-2220