The Project 25 Technology Interest Group (PTIG) is pleased to publish a page dedicated to answering the question:  When making a decision on the best communications technology for Mission Critical Communications; 

Why Choose Project 25 ?

P25 Transcending Boundaries, Enabling Interoperability

Federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial agencies continue to embrace Project 25 (P25) as the defacto American National Standards Institute’s (ANSI) accredited technical standards for land mobile radio (LMR) communications interoperability. Thirty years ago, P25 began as a user requirement driven standards development process, which remains that way today. P25 has enabled nationwide holistic interoperability for mutual aid that led to preprogrammed channels, common infrastructure, flexible subscriber units (SU) and talkgroup naming conventions, forever changing the effectiveness of field response and operations for public safety first responders.

The Top Reasons to Choose P25 are detailed below:

Public Safety Grade Reliability and Performance Project 25 has been defined and implemented from its inception with Public Safety Grade Reliability and Performance; assuring user satisfaction and safety. Direct radio to radio operation outside of the system has always been a P25 capability.

Project 25 is a mature, proven, and well accepted radio standard for conventional and trunked applications with hundreds of thousands of Public Safety radio users.  A Large Installed Base of over 2800 P25 Public Safety, Federal, and Government Systems in the USA (conventional and trunked), offer interoperable roaming and mutual aid beyond jurisdictional boundaries.

The reliable, de-facto, choice for mission critical communications during Natural Disasters, Large Sporting and Entertainment events, and Social unrest. 


Well defined, P25 Air and Wireline Standardized Interfaces create seamless interoperability to link multiple users, agencies, and systems with local, state-wide, and national coverage, independent of manufacturer. Shared P25 Infrastructure = Significant Cost Savings

 
Superior Communications Security (COMSEC) using 256 bit AES for encrypted voice, data, GPS location, and key distribution both over the air (OTAR) and through directly connected key fill devices. P25 also provides Link Layer Authentication to further identify, validate, and secure SUs and the system infrastructure


The preferred radio technology for Federal Grant applications offering product choices, multiple price tiers and competition from a vibrant market-place of Interoperable P25 Products and Services offered by 38 P25 suppliers.


A User-Driven technology that embodies: secure direct mode operation, backward compatibility to legacy analog radios, forward migration to improved spectrum efficiency and cost effective coverage using a variety of P25 system configurations for urban, rural and remote areas using any frequency band or combination of bands (VHF, UHF, 700/800/900 MHz)


A live, active, technology that continues to evolve with new capabilities of wireless and IP network evolution, security upgrades, and test standards.

Superior Audio volume and clarity in extreme environments through an advanced P25 vocoder combined with high performance radio designs for specific, high noise, Public Safety environments.


Independent testing for performance and interoperability through labs approved by the Department of Homeland Security CAP program.

Multiple P25 System Configurations: (direct mode, repeated, single site, multi-site, voting, multicast, and simulcast configurations) and optional features create cost effective system applications and geographic coverage based on unique user requirements.Backward and forward compatibility considerations are built-in to the P25 Standards and ease future system expansions and migration to new technology upgrades.

 

The public safety community realizes P25’s value in providing of the secure, highly available, scalable, and shareable critical communications solutions purpose built for the public safety environment with immediate system access, P25 provides effective cost containment/avoidance, and enhanced spectrum efficiency and operational benefits of multi-jurisdictional, regional, and shared systems of systems environments that P25 systems may provide.

Download Links for:  Supporting Resources and Documents- Why Choose P25

Benefits of P25 E-Book article

P25 Value Proposition

Top 10 Benefits of P25

Why is P25 the best technology for MCPTT

 P25 Funding and Future Video DHS CISA