In critical situations, having the ability to make emergency calls to ask for help is a must for any telephony system whether it’s a public or private telephony system. As a requirement per the law, callers must be directly connected to public safety services without going through an operator or a receptionist and there must not be any required prefix for emergency numbers. Users should upgrade their UCM firmware version to 1.0.20.23 for the UCM6200 series and UCM6510, and 1.0.18.18 for UCM6100 series models to support all features as mandated by Kari’s law.
Grandstream’s enterprise-grade IP-PBX provides clients with the ability to make these types of calls when dealing with critical situations to easily make emergency calls for help. These calls need to have higher priority than regular calls, and can be categorized depending on the emergency service called and the ongoing situation, as well as the possibility to notify related personal about the situation (guards, first aid etc.). The UCM series enables the administrator with all the tools necessary to configure and adapt the PBX with such situations.
The UCM also supports configuration and management of numbers and outbound routes used in emergency situations. Outbound calls can be set to bypass the regular outbound call routing process and dial out for emergency help through redundant trunks in the event all lines are busy or down. The UCM series supports 3 types of notifications: call notifications (voice notification) with screen display (visual alert) of the extension that initiated the emergency call, instant email notification (once the emergency number is dialed), and email notification with call recording attached. When someone dials an emergency call (ex: 911) a notification call will be sent to an internal user, such as a front desk attendant, so they are aware of the current situation. Emergency calls can now be automatically recorded by toggling on the new Auto Record feature and recordings can be viewed in the new Emergency Recordings tab on the same page. Additionally, users can have these recordings sent to an email address(es).
is a feature added to the latest firmware of the UCM series, which is useful when you have a UCM managing a location with multiple buildings or floors that require unique emergency location identification numbers or addresses. Also, emergency dispatchers can use the emergency location mapping to contact the caller in case he or she disconnects prematurely. To use this feature, the emergency response location must be defined for each building and floor and must be uploaded to the public safety services database. In other words, users must supply public safety services with the emergency CIDs and their associated ERL, which they can arrange through their carrier or service provider. The carrier or service provider can help map a physical address for each CID so they become available to the public safety dispatcher.
What does this mean for existing UCM users?
Current Grandstream UCM customers can upgrade their firmware to become fully compliant. If you have not already upgraded your systems firmware, please do so as soon as possible. To find the latest firmware for your device head over to our Upgrade Firmware page HERE.
Check out our latest YouTube video about Kari’s Law: