Douglas County's population has more than doubled over the last 25 years, and its statewide radio backhaul now supports over 1,000 public safety agencies across Colorado. As one of the fastest-growing counties in the United States, its aging microwave network was reaching its limits, both in capacity and reliability.
Following a competitive RFP process involving nine bids from five vendors and an independent technical review, Douglas County selected SAF Tehnika's Integra-X2 microwave radios.
The Upgrade, By the Numbers
- Reliability up from five nines to 99.9999%
- Encryption upgraded from 40-bit to FIPS 197 certified AES-256
- Bandwidth tripled to a minimum of 300 Mbps per link
- 19 microwave hops across 3 interconnected MPLS rings, able to withstand the loss of a site without dropping communications anywhere
- Tower-top design that freed up space at radio sites for cameras, Wi-Fi, and other equipment
Reliability That Speaks for Itself
Since deployment, the team's day-to-day involvement with the equipment has been minimal, by design.
"You don't normally say this as a technician, but it's rock solid, we rarely have to touch it. We do PMs twice a year. That's kind of it,"
Jeff Vaughn, Radio Systems Supervisor at Douglas County Sheriff's Office.
Support That Shows Up
When a construction-related power surge knocked out equipment and took a full radio site offline, SAF NA's Denver office, about 40 minutes from Douglas County, had the team back online within hours, a level of turnaround the county says it hasn't seen from other vendors in decades of working with them.
"I would recommend that any agency looking to upgrade their system take a serious look at SAF because the quality of equipment is unquestioned. I highly recommend it,"
Steven Smith, Radio Systems Technician at Douglas County Sheriff's Office.
Hear the full story behind Douglas County's deployment, straight from the team.
