The Harris Corp. was awarded a $15 million contract to design and deploy a new public safety radio system to improve coverage, reliability and communication interoperability between local, county, state and federal first responders in the Monterey County, California, the company announced.

The Harris P25IP (Project 25 to the power of IP) VHF system will provide reliable coverage for first responders and public service agencies throughout the coastal county of 425,000 residents that spans more than 3,300 square miles.

For enhanced interoperable communications, the solution includes the Harris Unity XG-100 portable and mobile full-spectrum multiband radio with advanced features that include Bluetooth capability, Harris noise-suppression technology, and encryption.

"As our county population grew to nearly half a million residents, it became clear that the communications requirements of our public safety first responders have outstripped the capabilities of our existing legacy radio system," according to Lynn Diebold, director of emergency communications for the county. "The most attractive system proposed that was flexible, reliable and which allowed the county to leverage existing resources while at the same time realizing a significant cost savings, was the Harris P25IP solution."

The Harris P25IP system is part of the VIDA (Voice, Interoperability, Data and Access) network that provides network-level interoperable communications with other public safety agencies. The system will consist of a P25IP trunked VHF network with a conventional analog system overlay.

In addition, Harris also will deploy a P25IP trunked 700 MHz sub-system to meet the county's specified requirements within both the city of Salinas and the Monterey Peninsula Area.

"Monterey is a large and vibrant county with complex communications needs," according to Steve Marschilok, president of Harris Public Safety and Professional Communications. "The Harris VIDA solution brings Monterey much needed communications interoperability through the integration of both trunked and conventional analog capabilities on a single powerful network."

The Harris VIDA network platform is a unified IP-based voice and data communication system based on the APCO P25 industry standard. VIDA delivers full IP management features, including interoperability without intervention of console operators; IP consoles; and other benefits inherent in open IP architecture systems. The new P25 system complies with both the current P25 Phase 1 standard and the emerging P25 Phase 2 industry standard.