Chapter 4: Configuring E911; What Is E911; Why Is E911 Important - Avaya WLAN 8100 Configuration

Chapter 4: Configuring E911

The following sections provide an overview of the tasks you must complete to configure the E911 feature
on your WLAN 8100 system.

What is E911?

The WLAN 8100 solution is E911- enabled. You can configure the WLAN 8100 to dynamically
report the location of a WLAN handset to a third-party-supplied E911 application. The WLAN
8100 system, in conjunction with the E911 and Call Server infrastructure, can identify the
location of mobile devices by assuming that the location of the AP as the location of the mobile
device. The solution updates an external server to keep track of devices and their locations,
and also provides SNMP interfaces to this external server to keep its location tables
updated.

Why is E911 important?

The WLAN E911 feature addresses a number of issues commonly found with traditional E911
solutions, namely the assumption that a 911 call originates from a fixed location. Today, with
mobile devices such as mobile phones and IP desksets, tools such as caller ID used to identify
a phone and locate the origin of the call on a map, are no longer reliable.
The way the Avaya mobility E911 solution identifies the AP location of a handset or client
application, and translates that information to an Emergency Response Location (ERL) in the
call server. This information is dynamically provided to a PSAP whenever a 911 call is placed
from any wireless client device or application. Because an AP range small, location tracking
is very accurate. If the device making the call moves, the location is updated in real time, giving
emergency responders updated information to work with.
When any WLAN client device associates to a WLAN 8100 AP, an alert is sent to the Conveyant
Scout application. When a client roams to another AP, an alert is also sent to the Conveyant
Scout application. This application is in communication with the call server and has a list of
registered telephony endpoints, such as handsets or soft clients. The Conveyant Scout knows
by correlating these two lists, which clients must be assigned to an ERL in the call server.
This solution is robust against the changes that often happen in an enterprise network, because
APs are rarely physically moved. Because this solution relies on AP location, not switch port
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