Harris Corporation, which has operations in Rochester, is helping with recovery efforts in hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico.
The company makes two-way communications equipment for the military and public safety, and it is providing radios to first responders on that island.
Harris spokesman Tim Romanelli says his company is uniquely qualified to provide that kind of help, since it makes radios designed to be used by the military in places where there isn’t a ready-made network.
“The real core of getting Puerto Rico back and operating is going to be coordination; and coordination depends on essential communication, and right now, not only are there communication systems down, their entire electrical grid is challenged,” Romanelli told WXXI News.
Harris employees are also donating their time to help get the radios prepared and delivered to Puerto Rico.
“Those radios are not going to be able to help people unless they’re properly programmed to what the agencies are going to be using , put on the right frequency, all those kinds of things, those are people who have to do that. And we have volunteers working through the night so those radios would be prepared so that when people open the boxes they can use them right away.”
Harris also supplied radios to Florida National Guard units that are deploying to the U.S. Virgin Islands, and it was also involved in responding to the recent hurricanes in Texas and Florida.
