On November 9, the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) announced the opening of the FirstNet Innovation and Test Lab at its technical headquarters in Boulder, CO. FirstNet’s state-of-the-art lab will be a “plug and play” environment in which FirstNet and its future private industry partner will test public safety features, devices, and apps before they are deployed on the Nationwide Public Safety Broadband Network.

FirstNet was established in 2012 to establish, operate, and maintain an interoperable public safety broadband network. To fulfill these objectives, Congress allotted $7 billion and 20 MHz of valuable radio spectrum to build the network.

According to FirstNet’s press release, “The FirstNet Lab will be used to conduct validation and verification testing for the Network, services, and features, and aid future research and development related to public safety broadband technologies. This testing will help reduce the time to initially field test and deploy public safety features of the FirstNet Network, including quality of service; priority; pre-emption; and other future mission-critical services and applications. The lab is ready now with all the utilities needed for the future FirstNet partner to install its equipment and begin testing.”

To download a fact sheet and watch a video on the FirstNet Innovation and Test Lab, visit www.FirstNet.gov.