Austin, Texas-based HBF Group will begin providing 911 services for voice-over-IP provider PointOne’s North American wholesale service provider customers.

PointOne’s StarPoint IP digital phone customers span the U.S. and Canada. PointOne wanted a solution that could deliver both a subscriber’s callback number and location information to the appropriate Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) that serves their current location. HBF’s I-911 VoIP solution can route emergency calls for subscribers in fixed locations as well as to the nomadic subscriber whose location varies.

HBF has been providing software and database solutions for emergency services since 1985. The company’s software is licensed to Tier-1 carriers such as Sprint and Verizon and well as carriers in Canada. The company is providing a hosted model for its i-911 service.

“Given the nature of many VoIP providers, this [hosted model] is the right type of solution,” said Jim Shepard, executive vice president at HBF.

Using HBF’s i-911, a nomadic subscriber can update their new location information in real-time and have their 911 call delivered to the appropriate PSAP in their new area. Other VoIP 911 solutions, Shepard said, are often limited to major metropolitan areas.

“Our solution has a mechanism that allows PSAPs to view the location and call back number over a secured Internet connection. It gets much closer to the current state of wireless and wireline E911,” Shepard said.

The software accomplishes this by separating the call delivery from the data delivery. This is true for mobile, or nomadic, users as well. However, currently the responsibility of notifying the service provider of a change in location is not automatic and remains with the end user.

HBF will be demonstrating its i-911 VoIP solution next month at the 2005 Spring VON in San Jose, Calif.