The new era of broadband for public safety users

The introduction of the MSK program marks the end of the traditional radio era (such as Polycom) for Swiss security authorities and the beginning of mobile internet for critical missions. This shift is not just a technological upgrade but a strategic opportunity to fundamentally optimise the way the police operate.

This presentation shares practical experiences from police authorities around the world – from North America to Europe – that have already made this leap or are currently in the midst of transitioning from narrowband to broadband.

What you can learn from global experiences:

The changing culture:

• How have international partners managed to transfer the accepted reliability of the traditional system into the new, more flexible broadband world?
• How does the tactics and training of frontline officers change when real-time videos, drone imagery, and large data sets suddenly become available?

The art of gentle landing (resilience):

• Successful migrations demonstrate that transition security is key. We present proven hybrid strategies where traditional and new systems run in parallel until the broadband network is 100% operational.
• Key lesson in redundancy: What simple yet effective solutions do other countries use (e.g., satellite backups or emergency radio networks) to ensure the necessary resilience during network outages?

The key to success: Local partnerships:

• Building a national solution requires global expertise, but also local grounding. Experience teaches us that partnerships with Swiss innovators and SMEs are crucial to securing national sovereignty in the communications sector and tailoring the system to the specific needs of Switzerland. The aim of this presentation is to provide concrete lessons learned and strategic decisionmaking tools, enabling Switzerland to master the complexity of the MSK transition and achieve a future-proof, highly resilient communications system