The International Harris Wireless Users Group is an international trade organization made up of users of mission critical Harris wireless systems. Members come primarily from the Public Safety and Utility/Transportation industries on a worldwide basis. Membership is open to all users of Harris wireless systems. The group meets annually in a changing, US-based location for product training, new product introduction and networking opportunities.
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May 17-21, 2010
On behalf of the Board of Directors for the International Harris Wireless Users Group, I want to extend an invitation to join us for the 2010 conference. This year’s meeting will be held at the Marriott Orlando Airport.
With the acquisition of Tyco Electronics Wireless Systems by Harris Corporation we are entering an exciting new era in Wireless Communications. This year’s conference allows all Harris users an excellent opportunity to preview new products and technologies, attend training sessions, and gain knowledge through social networking. It allows for one-on-one interaction with Harris personnel. This year we will be taking a field trip to Harris Headquarters in Melbourne, Florida. This provides us a chance to experience first hand Harris’ vision for the future. These sessions provide us a direct path to Harris’ staff so that we may discuss system issues or desired improvements that we feel need to be addressed. This interaction will include presentations by members of senior staff from Harris along with the President of RF Communications, Dana Mehnert, and CEO Howard Lance. With world events placing more and more demands on our radio systems, solutions to the challenges you face may be available at this year’s conference.
There will be opportunities to learn about new products that interface with our Harris systems through the Vendor presentations. We will also have a working vendor exhibit hall on Tuesday with an exciting display of products and services. At the end of the day we will have the chance at the vendor night to have quality time with users, vendors, and Harris staff to interact in a relaxed environment.
Roundtable sessions will be held on Wednesday and Thursday. There will be a total of eight (8) sessions where new information will be provided about key aspects of the Harris Systems. These roundtables will be broken out into small groups so that all participants could hear the information and interact with the Harris staff with comments about the topics.
There will be a new improvements and opportunities (I/O) process introduced into the conference this year. On Thursday afternoon, this process will be discussed and items from the week will be prioritized giving Harris information on what is important to us.
Throughout the conference there will be User to User - keynote speakers. They will be providing presentations on how users work through rebanding, system upgrades, major disasters, and large events with their Harris communication systems.
Registration for this year’s conference is $200 if payment is received prior to April 17th and $225 after April 17th. We have negotiated a daily rate of $109.00 and that rate is good for 3 days prior to the conference and also 3 days post conference. Please contact Marriott Orlando Airport to make your reservation. Please reference the group code “harhara” for the discounted rate.
We look forward to seeing you on May 17th. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at cindy@miamidade.gov or 305-596-8607.
Thank you,
Cindy M. Finney, President
International Harris Wireless Users Group
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FOR FLORIDA TODAY
Editor's note: Harris Corp. senior manager Sleighton Meyer traveled to Haiti last week for a two-week effort to bring sever satellite communications systems and 300 hand held radios to the country that was ravaged by an earthquake on Jan. 12.
Trusted at the intersection of life and data. That's our tagline for Harris Healthcare Solutions. Today it meant much more than a tagline to the staff and patients at St. Francois de Sales Hospital in the heart of Port Au Prince, where our Harris team spent a grueling day bringing much needed connectivity to the devastated hospital.
The mission: install SATCOM service with a phone bank and wireless access to laptops - all inside a converted café at the center of a courtyard now serving as a makeshift hospital of lumber and tarps. Mission accomplished!
Many Haitians, including medical staff, died in the hospital's main building during the quake. Most of the bodies still remain entombed there, just feet away from where we were working. It was hot, dusty, and smelly.
But the Harris team pushed through it like pros. As we loaded up to head back to HQ after a hard but satisfying day's work, we got to catch a smiling Luc Bouquet place the first phone call from the hospital's brand new Internet café to his wife in Palm Bay. Now the mostly volunteer medical staff has reliable phone and Internet connectivity back to the U.S. and anywhere in the world - free of charge. I'd say we're living up to our tagline down here in Haiti.
There were other accomplishments Wednesday but none as rewarding as the hospital.
After breakfast we issued lots of Land Mobile Radios (LMRs) to USAID workers. The radios give them better coverage to give them the increased mobility to touch more people and places. Adam Brown also demonstrated our Situation Awareness System to USAID staff, who expressed interest in using the tool for their operations and share information to make the tool more useful.
Jimmy Sheppard and Sean Fitzpatrick checked-in with the FAA at the airport where we did our first install earlier in the week, as well as discuss any longer-term requirements there. While there, Sean met with a contingent of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents who are providing security and escort for the FAA. The agents are now using ten of our LMRs for their critical security mission.
Over a wonderful dinner of home-cooked jambalaya, members of the team consulted with our new friends at Inveneo to go over tomorrow's plan to install microwave radios west of town to bring the local Save Our Children organization into the network.
Healthcare IT, Public Safety communications, and aviation communications all in one day! Jimmy pushed the team to its limits today and the team responded well.