The International Ski Federation (FIS) Alpine World Ski Championships (AWSC) brings together top athletes from across the globe to compete for the years highest honor in skiing. Running from Feb. 2 through Feb. 15, the event brings more than 800 athletes and staff, 2,000 members of the press and upwards of 150,000 spectators to the Vail Valley, Colorado with events in Beaver Creek Resort and the Town of Vail.

Building on the successful partnership with ADCOM911 in Adams County, Colorado with its new first in the nation Public Safety Broadband Network, General Dynamics Mission Systems is proud to help bring cutting-edge communications technology to the 2015 Alpine World Ski Championships. For the first time ever, emergency first responders charged with protecting the thousands of spectators and athletes who have descended on the town of Vail and Eagle County have access to a dedicated wireless broadband network built specifically for public safety.

This capability allows first responders to communicate with colleagues on the ground, in command centers, and emergency dispatch centers using voice, video, data, text and chat in real time. Fire, emergency medical and police departments connected to the network communicate more effectively by using a single dedicated broadband 4G LTE network with greater coverage and capacity than current public safety wireless systems can provide.

The General Dynamics Mission Systems Cell On Wheels (COW) is on the ground in Vail. The 4G LTE network created by the COW with WiFi hotspots for range extension provides smartphone access to data feeds from sensors like iRobots unmanned ground vehicle and aerostats. The advanced broadband networks large range of coverage helps first responders manage critical public safety communications at natural disaster sites or for large-scale events like the world ski championships.

Watch the COW in action at a Phish concert in Commerce City, Colorado last year.

We are also providing our state-of-the-art Evolved Node B, otherwise known as the eNodeBlue: the engine behind our cutting edge 4G LTE network.The eNodeBlue can be deployed on a tower, building rooftop, equipment room, shelter, or outdoor cabinet and it provides first responders with high-speed network coverage to enable voice, video, data, text, and chat.This technology will also play a key role as the FirstNet communications system a nationwide 4G LTE network dedicated to first responders is built throughout the country.

General Dynamics Missions Systems is proud to be working on this historic demonstration project with the Colorado Governors Office of Information Technology (OIT), the team at FirstNet Colorado (FNC) and with public safety leaders from Vail and Eagle County. Working together, we put the power of the 4G LTE network into the hands of first responders in a real-world environment.

Mobile Vehicular Modems and Fixed-point access devices provided by General Dynamics Mission Systems.