Local exchange carrier survivability initiative

The National Communications System (NCS) is sponsoring the development of a national security emergency preparedness (NS/EP) call identification capability which would be used to flag each NS/EP call at the point of origin, and maintain this flag as the call traverses the public switched network (PSN) through several carrier networks. In this manner, the NS/EP call needs only to be authenticated by one carrier which would flag the call so that all subsequent carriers involved in the call would recognize it as a NS/EP call and provide it with priority treatment. To ensure compatibility with future PSN development, the NS/EP identification is based in the PSN Signaling System Number 7 network which is being widely deployed and interconnected among the PSN carriers. The NCS has devoted extensive research and analysis to the objective of providing reliable and survivable communications to the Federal Government. The results of this effort clearly indicates that, with minor modification, using the PSN represents the most cost effective means of meeting the majority of the government´s objectives. Among the PSN´s many attributes, it is highly reliable and inherently survivable due to its pervasive and robust nature. However, to assure NS/EP communications under all stress conditions requires intelligent management of PSN capabilities to maximize its effectiveness