...to the police. RIM, which supplies the police service with BlackBerry devices and is also an Airwave technology partner, is looking to capitalise on police forces' growing need for secure mobile data too.
Around 14,000 BlackBerry handsets are being used by police forces in the UK. RIM's communications system uses commercial GPRS from mobile carriers to transfer data. Data packets are encrypted using 256-bit AES encryption and are sent over the mobile-phone network to proxy servers, which send the data through RIM's mobile-data server, which is connected to police back-office systems.
RIM also claims that its BlackBerry devices enable access to different databases to be restricted by police network administrators on a "need-to-know" basis, to comply with data-protection regulations, said Graham Baker, RIM's UK government strategic manager.
"IT admins can automatically deploy access to applications that are really needed," said Baker. "Everything is policy managed." Like Airwave, RIM is accredited by the Communications Electronics Security Group (CESG, the information assurance arm of GCHQ), and an IT admin can also send a "kill" packet to a device.
Despite the fact that Airwave uses RIM's BlackBerry handsets, the two companies are also competitors, with two distinct approaches to providing the secure mobile-data services that police forces require. Airwave buys in handsets, but provides a dedicated network, apps, apps integration and back end. RIM provides devices, apps, apps integration and back-end support, but buys network time from commercial carriers.
Baker claimed that the communications infrastructure that Airwave uses does not meet the demands of the kind of data services the police will need in the future. Airwave is still predominantly used for secure radio communications and utilises the Terrestrial Trunked Radio (Tetra) infrastructure, but is not optimised to carry both voice and applications traffic, he said. "The Tetra radio frequency doesn't have the bandwidth [to carry the necessary data]."
For its part, Airwave claimed that, while it has bought mobile devices from RIM and other suppliers, only it is able to "package an end-to-end service of devices, applications, airtime and data integration".
Airwave's Paris maintained that his company has created a communications network that relies on a series of nodes dotted around the country, with country-wide coverage. The company also has a complete duplicate failover network, to make its network more resilient. "We have a resilient network that is completely standalone," said Paris, "with a number of switches around the UK. I can't tell you where they are for security reasons. These switches are interconnected and connected to police control rooms."
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Despite their different approaches, both Baker and Paris, unsurprisingly, agree that police officers could make more use of mobile devices to access not only national databases but local databases in other police authorities.
At the moment, officers in individual constabularies can remotely access some national databases, such as the Police National Computer, which contains details of those cautioned or arrested, vehicles, drivers and stolen property. Police can also access local criminal records, but not outside of their constabulary area, said Paris. As a consequence, much information is only accessible through police-station computers.
"All the time, the police are having to go back to the station; they're not as efficient as they need to be," said Paris.
While Paris admitted there are privacy and civil liberties issues connected with the linking of databases, he said that Airwave products had been accredited by CESG to comply with government privacy and security standards.
"[The police] have to be aware of civil liberties and of the security and integrity of personal data," said Paris. "Security technology is only as good as the people who use it."
