Kari's Law &
The RAY BAUM's
Act

Emergency 911 Regulations

Being compliant with Kari's Law and the RAY BAUM's Act involves multiline telephone systems (MLTS) in building enviroments supporting specific emergency 911 functionality. Kari's Law includes direct dial to 911 services and the notification of designated personnel when an emergency call is made, while the RAY BAUM's Act relates to the identification of dispatchable locations of 911 callers.

Kari's Law Compliant

NEC is pleased to state that all of the company's communications systems have always supported a completely flexible dial plan. This means all currently supported NEC communications platforms are programmable to be compliant with Kari's Law without any need for software or hardware upgrades.

Kari's Law requires that all outbound dialing MLTS must provide direct access to 911 service without the caller having to dial an initial number, digit, prefix or other access number before dialing 911. While numerous states have their own version of Kari's Law, a nationwide version, H.R. 582 (115th): Kari's Law Act of 2017, was signed into law in 2018 and took effect February 16, 2020. Kari's Law specially applies to 911 access and notification of a 911 call to a central location on the site of the facilities where a call is placed and to an optional additional location per Rule 251.15.

Due to NEC's foresight in supporting a flexible dial plan, customers can easily adapt to regulatory changes like Kari's Law.

Kari's Law Compliant Communications Platforms

Presently the following NEC communications platforms are Kari's Law compliant:

UNIVERGE® SV9000
Series Platforms
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UNIVERGE 3C™
Communications Platform
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SL2100
Communications Platforms
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UNIVERGE BLUE
Cloud Unified Communications
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RAY BAUM's Act Compliance

Created to ensure faster and more accurate responses to 911 calls, Section 506 of the RAY BAUM's Act requires that all Multi-Line Telephone Systems (referred to as MLTS) provide a "dispatchable location" on all emergency 911 calls. A dispatchable location is defined not only as the street address of the 911 calling party, but also must include additional information such as room number, floor number, or similar information necessary to adequately identify the location of the calling party.

NEC as a manufacturer of MLTS products has the responsibility to ensure all new NEC platform shipments are capable of providing dispatchable location data. NEC has committed to meeting the requirements for all current platform models prior to the RAY BAUM's Act compliance date of January 6, 2021 for on-premise "fixed telephony" devices.

In order to provide dispatchable location information, the current NEC platforms noted in the table below may be upgraded to the latest software version made available as indicated. All UNIVERGE SV9000 and UNIVERGE 3C platforms require active Software Assurance (SWA) to upgrade to the latest software.

All NEC platforms must also support SIP Trunking in order to deliver dispatchable location information. If your platform does not currently support SIP Trunking, NEC can provide the necessary hardware and licensing to support SIP trunks. NEC's UNIVERGE BLUE SIP TRUNKING offering will be fully tested and certified to support dispatchable location with all current platforms (SL2100, UNIVERGE SV9100 with CP20, SV9300, SV9500 and UNIVERGE 3C).

Release Schedules for RAY BAUM's Compliance

(Minimum software requirements)

SL2100 - GA November
Software R3

SV9100 - GA November
Software R10.7
CPU Model CP20 only, CP10 is not supported

UNIVERGE 3C - GA November
Software Version 10.0

SV9300 - GA December
Software V8

SV9500 - GA December
Software V8

Legacy Platforms: SV8x00, SL1100 and earlier NEC voice platforms are not compliant with, nor can they be upgraded without migration to provide dispatchable location data.

While the FCC does not explicitly require legacy devices or currently installed systems, including those using non-SIP Trunk types (Analog Loop Start, T1, PRI etc.) to be retrofitted to meet compliance, NEC strongly recommends that customers migrate legacy platforms to meet these new requirements to provide a safe environment for employees, customers, and visitors, and avoid any potential liability related to 911 calls. Customers with legacy platforms should contact their NEC representative to explore migration options as soon as possible.

Questions

Please contact your NEC sale manager
or authorized NEC channel partner for further assistance

Kari's Law & The RAY BAUM'sAct