Guernsey County, Ohio became one of the first in the state to run on cloud-native NG911, without waiting for anyone else to build the road first.
“We thought there was no way we were going to be able to adopt NG911. I’m happy to say we’re one of the first counties in Ohio to have it.”
– Sheriff Jeffrey D. Paden, Guernsey County
Most counties in Guernsey’s position would have waited. Ohio didn’t have a statewide ESInet yet. Their analog infrastructure, pre-internet and limited to traditional two-way voice, was outdated but functional. The path of least resistance would have been to hold until the state caught up.
Guernsey County chose differently. Serving a population just shy of 40,000 people and running an emergency center with just two dispatchers per shift, they decided they weren’t going to let infrastructure politics determine when their community got modern 911 capabilities.
When they went looking for a solution, they found one in Axon 911. In doing so, they positioned themselves among the nation’s early adopters of cloud-native emergency communications.
The Challenge
- The outdated analog system offered minimal situational awareness and no multimedia support
- Ohio’s lack of a statewide ESInet made NG911 adoption look impossible for a county their size
- Two dispatchers per shift, no margin for disruption, no bench to pull from
- All calls, emergency and non-emergency, arrived on the same line; actual emergencies waited behind routine calls
The Solution
Carbyne APEX doesn’t require a regional ESInet to function. It runs on secure cloud infrastructure, which meant Guernsey didn’t need to wait for Ohio to build the road. Axon 911 Core, by Carbyne, provisioned internet connectivity directly for the call center and cut the county over in under three hours. Zero downtime. Calls still came in throughout.
For the staffing reality of a two-person shift, they also brought on ANET from Axon 911 Intelligence, by Prepared. Every non-emergency call handled automatically is a dispatcher freed up for the call that actually needs them. Anything from noise complaints to welfare checks to lost property reports, ANET handles. The dispatchers stay on what they’re trained for. The dispatchers stay on what they’re trained for.
What went live:
- Live video and photos from callers via SMS, no app needed, with GPS location shared automatically
- 99.999% inbound 911 call availability, secure government cloud storage, and automatic failover built into the architecture
- AI-powered non-emergency triage via ANET, routing routine calls automatically so dispatchers stay focused on emergencies
- Full cutover in under 3 hours with zero downtime, training delivered virtually and on-site
The Results
Hours after going live, a call came in. A seizure. Call-takers used live video, shared by the caller via a secure SMS link, to give responders real situational awareness before anyone arrived on scene. The patient survived.
That’s what the infrastructure decision was actually about. Not the procurement justification or the architecture, but the fact that when the call came in, the system held and the responders got there with information they wouldn’t have had otherwise.
Ohio will modernize, every county in the state will get there. Guernsey decided to lead the way, and Axon 911 made sure they could.
| Result | What It Meant |
|---|---|
| Live video used within hours of go-live | Responders arrived with real situational awareness. A life was saved. |
| Cloud deployment without ESInet | NG911 capabilities without waiting on statewide infrastructure |
| Full cutover in under 3 hours | No downtime, no disruption, calls handled throughout |
| Non-emergency calls routed automatically | Two-person team stays focused on what needs them |
| No on-premises hardware | Lower costs, automatic failover, nothing to maintain |