Dorset & Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Assures Secure Access for First Responders From the Endpoint to the Edge With Absolute
Dorset & Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service (DWFRS) operates 50 fire stations serving local communities in the counties of Dorset and Wiltshire, England. Crews from the stations respond to emergency calls 24 hours a day, seven days a week. To protect local communities, DWFRS often works with partners to reduce fire risks wherever possible. Firefighters use Panasonic Toughbooks™ for vital communication and secure mobile access to critical and sensitive information during incident response and community safety activities.
Guarantee Device and Data Security
As part of its digital transformation, DWFRS needed to ensure that mobile crews had fast, reliable access to communications, while providing IT administrators the ability to guarantee device and data security.
After deploying Absolute, DWFRS frontline crews enjoy a better user experience with constant, secure connectivity on self-healing devices that can easily be managed by IT teams.
My primary job is to give emergency crews access to critical information wherever and whenever needed so they can focus on saving lives and protecting our community. With Absolute Secure Endpoint and Absolute Secure Access, we’re able to take advantage of endpoint resilience in addition to having secure network access.
How They Did It
Ensuring Information and Application Availability
Seamless, persistent connectivity significantly reduces mobile-related IT issues and is the foundation of modern digital public safety organizations, enabling frontline workers to focus on saving lives rather than troubleshooting technical issues.
Absolute Secure Access provides fire crews with resilient and seamless data connectivity whenever they are called out to an emergency. The software constantly monitors connections, devices, applications and networks to safeguard availability. It also keeps mobile users productive by providing diagnostic tools that rapidly isolate and fix any connectivity issues.
Safeguarding Devices and Data
DWFRS leverages freeze, data wipe and geolocation capabilities to securely control at-risk devices, selectively delete data and complete end-of-life compliance requirements and ensure complete visibility of where those devices are at all times.
A return on investment in software expenditure is also expected to be realized over time with this increased visibility on application usage.
Daniel Grew, Mobile Data Technology Manager at DWFRS explains: “The real difference for me is that Absolute’s Persistence™ technology cannot be uninstalled. If a device is lost and someone tries to wipe the operating system and install a new one, Absolute reinstalls itself. I can track and freeze every device no matter what happens to it,” said Daniel.
Managing Devices With Confidence
All British Emergency Services are undergoing a digital transformation and will soon move to a 4G critical communications bearer, which will allow them to harness fast, safe and secure data throughout England, Scotland, and Wales on any Emergency Services Network device.
Deploying Absolute is about assurance. I don’t have to worry. I get alerts when a device leaves a boundary and alerts if someone is using too much data. With Absolute, if we were ever in a situation, I have the confidence that I can remote freeze the device.
Time Saved = Lives Saved
Ensuring seamless, persistent connectivity is foundational to modern digital public safety organizations. For DWFRS, that means significantly reducing IT issues and, more importantly, freeing frontline workers from troubleshooting so they can focus on saving lives.
For the DWFRS team, Absolute:
- Provides freeze, data wipe, and geolocation capabilities to security control at-risk devices
- Allows complete visibility of where devices are at all times Ensures fire crews are seamlessly connected whenever they are called out to an emergency Guarantees device and data security
- Improves user experience for frontline crews
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