The North West Ambulance Service (NWAS) is leading the way by becoming the first to adopt the new Tetra messenger service from Airwave.

Following a successful trial in the latter part of 2011, NWAS has procured the service for a three-year term and has placed an initial order for 330 devices.

Tetra Messenger is a secure, resilient, two-way messaging and alerting solution, which provides messaging on Airwave's secure Tetra Network. The addition of the GPS functionality means that control rooms can pinpoint the whereabouts of on-duty responders and manage their resources more effectively during an incident.

"The device is simple and easy to use and offers users the functionality to store up to 40 pre-defined messages. In the past our responders were unable to respond in a situation which made it difficult for us to know who was available and where they were located", said Ray Lunt, NWAS programme director.

The pre-programmed responses (respond and react) can be easily integrated into existing control room systems giving the operators access to real-time updates.

"It is a robust messaging device with the added benefit of receipt acknowledgement", added David Sangster, Airwave's UK services director. "It is a world first and offers significant advantages over analogue paging systems."

The Airwave Tetra Messenger was nominated in the Best Tetra Innovation category at the inaugural International TETRA Awards 2012. The ceremony was held at London's Savoy Hotel in March.

For more information on the awards – a collaboration between TETRA Today magazine and the TETRA + Critical Communications Association (TCCA) – visit www.tetra-awards.com