Since 2001, Mason (a division of Analysys Mason) has worked closely with Jamaica’s Ministry of National Security, headed by Dr Peter David Phillips, to provision high bandwidth infrastructure.
The network is to support the Jamaican Constabulary Force (JCF) and the country’s armed forces, the Jamaican Defence Force (JDF). The JCF has a complement of some 8,500 officers and is headed by Commissioner Lucius Thomas. The JDF is smaller, but its history stretches back to the 17th century and Jamaicans fought alongside the Allies in both World Wars. Rear Admiral Hardley Lewin is the JDF’s Chief of Staff.
Mason has been involved from the initial consultation to preparing the business case, assisting with procurement and project managing the installation. The company is also responsible for ensuring that robust service level agreements are in place.
The contracts were awarded in March 2006 for a 150Mbps Synchronous Digital Hierarchy (SDH) microwave backbone, which is inherently resilient because redundancy is built in, and an island-wide mobile communication system.
Mixed mode
The mobile communications infrastructure is being used to provide a wide area, mixed mode (analogue and digital), trunked radio system that can support thousands of users. Mixed mode means a high percentage of existing, analogue radios can be reused on the new network, to minimise initial procurement costs. However, the system also provides a clear upgrade path to a fully digital system that would be compatible with the P25 standard.
Deployment began in May 2006 with an initial implementation to support the Cricket World Cup, which took place in the West Indies between Sunday 11th March and 29th April 2007. Jamaica had the honour of hosting the opening ceremony, a series of group games throughout March and one of the semi-finals in April.
Voice and data
As well as supporting the trunked radio system, the microwave network provides substantial voice and data transmission capacity, allowing interconnection between all the major JCF locations, including headquarters, regional headquarters and key police stations.
The trunking system provides a virtual private network (VPN) for the JCF and the JDF. It supports encryption, as required, for specialist users and allows the two key security forces to interoperate as necessary.
The installation had to take full account of the Jamaican climate, which is windy, with a lot of salt water in the air from the sea, and warm.
New shelters have been built to protect the equipment, new generators have been procured, existing generators have been reconditioned or upgraded and so on. The deployment was completed in July 2007 and is expected to enhance significantly the operational and other capabilities of the Jamaican security forces.