The Boston Marathon & All-Comm Technologies, INC.
After tragedy struck at the 2013 Boston Marathon, race officials knew they had to plan for every possible scenario at future races. In an effort to make the event safer for participants and spectators ALL-COMM in Massachusetts was tasked with organizing communications for the entire event.
ALL-COMM previously used a another satellite provider for such events, needed a company it knew could maintain response coordination in the event that terrestrial communication systems let them down. Chris Laquidara, ALL-COMM’s Director of Operations, chose Globalstar as the mobile satellite service provider for the marathon and the exclusive provider for all events in the company’s portfolio.
“When it came time to provide satellite service to officials of the Boston Marathon, Globalstar is who we trusted to keep everyone connected in case other forms of communications failed for any reason.”
“When we met with Globalstar representatives last year and heard about the newly launched satellite system and its capabilities. We knew that Globalstar is who we wanted to work with moving forward,” said Laquidara. “When it came time to provide satellite service to officials of the Boston Marathon, Globalstar is who we trusted to keep everyone connected in case other forms of communications failed for any reason.”
Putting on a race the size of the Boston Marathon requires coordination from numerous agencies and departments. To achieve this level of organization regardless of events out of its control, ALL-COMM purchased 40 GSP-1700 Mobile Satellite Phones. Laquidara used the technology to equip race officials, the Boston Police Department, Boston Fire Department, emergency medical services teams, the FBI and Massachusetts State Police with the right tools for vital redundant communications.
Emergency responders throughout the private and public sectors use Globalstar. Our technology keeps everyone connected, even in times of traditional communications failure such as a terrorist attack that affects regional infrastructure.
“Luckily we didn’t need to use the satellite phones,” he says. “But if something did happen, we made sure that everyone who needed to communicate had a Globalstar phone.”
Beyond the confidence they felt in using the most modern satellite network, ALL-COMM’s deciding factors also included the system’s crystal-clear voice quality, the compact size of the mobile satellite phone handset, as well as excellent customer service and support. When testing out the Globalstar phones before the race, Laquidara noted that the call clarity was great with little to no delays.
Based on the experience in 2014, ALL-COMM integrated Globalstar’s mobile satellite phones into the communications plan for the Boston Marathon again in the future.