MEOW adds bite to disaster recovery

With the bushfire season approaching again, Australia's defences against future bushfire threats received a significant boost with Telstra's launch of the $200,000 Mobile Exchange on Wheels (MEOW), the first of its kind in the country.

The MEOW is a simple and highly portable, fully functional telephone exchange, specifically designed to provide communications to disaster areas and was developed by Telstra engineers after the devastating bushfires on Black Saturday.

At an official event in Marysville, Telstra's Consumer Group Managing Director, David Moffatt, said the launch of the MEOW was an example of Telstra's ability to use technology in response to natural disasters.

"Telstra has a proud history of responding to natural disasters, enabling damage to be repaired and temporary network equipment deployed as quickly as possible to affected areas to ensure communities and emergency services stay connected.

"The importance of communications is never more apparent than during and after a disaster. So we often deploy portable base stations to enhance mobile coverage in affected areas and to provide broadband to emergency service organisations and relief centres.

"To further improve our disaster-response capabilities, I'm proud to unveil the Telstra Mobile Exchange on Wheels, a portable, ADSL2+ enabled exchange designed specifically to respond to disasters such as the Black Saturday bushfires," Moffatt said.

Telstra's Mobile Exchange on Wheels weighs three tonnes, making it light enough to be towed behind a 4WD or light truck, and can be deployed within just 30 minutes.

Once on site, two technicians can activate the device, which can then provide 450 telephone services and over 300 ADSL2+ services at speeds of up to 20 Mbps.