Rivada Mercury, a U.S. company formed by global communications industry leaders with deep technology and public safety experience, is bidding to build America's first nationwide 4G LTE broadband wireless network for public safety.
Bringing unmatched technology capabilities in the right areas needed to successfully deliver FirstNet, combined with experience serving the public safety community, the Rivada Mercury team of world class industry leaders include:
- Rivada Networks – A proven innovator with a unique technology and business approach to maximizing the use of spectrum via on-demand capacity sharing, allocation and prioritization.
- Harris Corporation – Brings decades of experience in public-safety communications and mission-critical voice and data communications.
- Ericsson – A global leader in LTE networks and network solutions.
- Nokia – A global leader in LTE networks and network solutions.
- Intel Security – A global authority on enterprise-level network threat detection, protection and prevention.
- Fujitsu Network Communications – The primary backhaul design and deployment provider for Rivada Mercury's purpose-built FirstNet network. The company is also providing supply chain and logistics management, including integration support for this entire network. Fujitsu has been a key partner in Band 14 Early Build projects such as JerseyNet and other early adopters.
- Black & Veatch – One of the largest telecom-construction firm in the U.S. and provider of engineering services for building telecommunications infrastructure.
Together, these organizations have proposed to build a nationwide dedicated mission critical LTE network in the 700 MHz spectrum licensed to FirstNet. Rivada Mercury offers a purpose-built, best-of-breed solution that aligns with FirstNet's vision for a nationwide, interoperable voice and data network for public safety, and offers an innovative business model that ensures long term financial viability of that network. Rivada Mercury is a carrier-neutral, public-safety-first approach that guarantees first responders priority access during emergencies while simultaneously creating new opportunities for the commercial wireless market.
Rivada Mercury brings the expertise, financial stability and sustainable business model that will subsidize the cost of building and operating FirstNet's nationwide LTE network. That network will use state-of-the-art tools and a proven approach that leverages existing partner infrastructure to speed deployment and reduce cost.
A key differentiator for Rivada Mercury is the use of Rivada's pioneering Dynamic Spectrum Arbitrage (DSA) technology that enables the dynamic selling of excess critical-grade network capacity to commercial tenants without risk of interfering with first responders' broadband access. The use of DSA gives public safety the ability to share and allocate bandwidth among enterprise tenants.
"The Rivada Mercury team is comprised of proven technology companies—each leaders in their field with unmatched technology capabilities and experience serving the public safety community with innovative and forward-leaning solutions," said Joe Euteneuer, CEO, Rivada Mercury. "Our team's approach to FirstNet offers many benefits for America's public safety community, namely we will provide public safety with a purpose-built Band 14 network and immediate turn-key access to the largest non-Band 14 coverage footprint in the US. This technology will both fund the FirstNet build out and sustained operation and maintenance by selling excess capacity to commercial users."
Rivada Mercury's proposed open-access, market-based approach has benefits that go well beyond financing the first responders' dedicated network. An open-access market enables traditional carriers to optimize their bandwidth-use financially and operationally as never before possible.
Dr. Dennis Martinez, Chief Technology Officer, Harris Public Safety and Professional Communications, said, "By developing a purpose-built network, we're finally giving the public-safety community the network on which they've been waiting for years. We're creating new jobs and our low-risk business model enables us to reinvest in the network."