[Scan-DC] For those wondering what happened to Washington Gas........

[Jeffrey Holmes]

http://urgentcomm.com/utility/harris-announces-washington-gas-deployment?NL=UC-03&Issue=UC-03_20121206_UC-03_97&YM_RID=jwilliamh@aol.com&YM_MID=1356634&sfvc4enews=42
Harris announces Washington Gas deployment
 Dec. 6, 2012 Donny Jackson
<http://urgentcomm.com/author/donny-jackson> | Urgent
Communications

Washington Gas has upgraded its communications to a hybrid
OpenSky2/P25<http://urgentcomm.com/technology/land-mobile-radio/p25?intlink=autlink>system
from
Harris <http://urgentcomm.com/companies/harris?intlink=autlink> to serve
utility personnel in the Washington, D.C., Maryland, Virginia and West
Virginia areas, according to a recent announcement.

Harris deployed the system more than year ago to replace the "aging"
infrastructure that Washington Gas had been using — a simulcast system in
the Washington, D.C., area and conventional infrastructure in West
Virginia, according to Chris Sarantos, area sales manager for Harris.
Washington Gas upgraded to a 22-site OpenSky2 network in the Washington,
D.C., area and a 4-site VHF trunked P25 network in its Virginia and West
Virginia territory, he said.

"The reason we went with OpenSky was simply because of the capacity that is
allowed by the protocol," Sarantos said during an interview with Urgent
Communications. "They went from a wideband, 25 kHz system to a narrowband,
12.5 kHz system without the need for a control channel. So, we more than
doubled their capacity."

Michael Marsters, the director of gas supply operations for Washington Gas,
echoed this sentiment.

"The added capacity allowed us to move data applications onto OpenSky2,
saving money and increasing reliability," Marsters said in a statement. "It
was clear that we needed to upgrade to a radio technology that would
provide robust voice and data capabilities, as well as interoperable
communications for our staff who serve our multi-state customer base. The
Harris solution more than doubled our capacity while providing a robust
data platform."

Because of propagation characteristics, Washington Gas opted for a VHF P25
Phase 1 system to cover its Virginia and West Virginia territory, Sarantos
said. With the Harris VIDA solution serving as a common IP backbone linking
the systems together, users from both systems can talk with each other.

"The requirement was that they needed to be able to communicate together,"
Sarantos said. "The nice thing about our VIDA platform is that it allows us
to integrate different technologies onto one infrastructure. So, we're able
to integrate the OpenSky network and the P25 infrastructure onto one
network and allow everybody to seamlessly communicate through a transcoder."

Although announced only recently, Washington Gas has been using the hybrid
system for several months, said Tom Hoyne, the director of utilities
markets for Harris.

"It's actually been in use by the crews for several months now," Hoyne
said. "It's been online for a year."