Bryant University is helping fire departments and dispatch centers across northern Rhode Island and into Connecticut implement an Internet protocol system to improve responses to emergencies.

The Internet Protocol Interoperability and Collaboration System (IPICS), developed by Cisco Systems Inc. in San Francisco, allows dispatchers to let emergency responders communicate with each other regardless of the device, be it a cell phone, landline phone, handheld radio or computer...

...Smithfield Fire Department, for example, has been using the technology to coordinate mutual aid, said the department’s Deputy Chief Wayne Brown. The need for mutual aid results from an incident in which responders need backup...

...Bryant University officials think the system could transcend the northern part of the state and Connecticut’s Quinebaug Valley Regional Dispatch Center, to connect local and state agencies such as the R.I. Emergency Management Agency, the R.I. Transportation Management Center and others statewide.