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Emergency services face unique challenges that combine to require a unique solution. These challenges include keeping data secure for moving vehicles that traverse diverse terrain, a vast number of rural areas that have little or no cellular connectivity and often operating in extreme environments.Emergency services with fixed sites and vehicles need reliable and flexible connectivity to ensure they provide services in the most efficient and secure manner. Because of these unique challenges, when choosing between satellite or cellular for the most reliable solution to provide connectivity for emergency services, the answer could be simple: use both.What are LEO Satellites?Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite internet systems, such as Starlink by SpaceX, is tailored for organizations operating in rural or remote areas lacking cellular infrastructure. Starlink provides an alternative connection when cellular service is spotty or not available. However, there are limitations surrounding LEO satellite capacity and cost. Set up costs and ongoing subscription fees, plus impacts from weather can make satellite as primary connectivity a challenge for emergency services that have vehicles moving between urban and rural areas.The combination of LEO satellites and 5G provides enhanced connectivity by creating a more resilient network and supplying more bandwidth. Combining the strengths of Starlink's expansive coverage and the advanced capabilities of 5G, emergency services can maintain operations, no matter the location. Pairing the two technologies offers high-performance, reliable, secure WAN access.Use Case: Multi-WAN network failover For organizations with fixed sites, relying on wired connectivity as the primary link is common. However, ensuring reliable backup solutions are in place is crucial for maintaining uninterrupted operations. If a wired line goes down due to infrastructure or weather issues, using 5G as the failover link can mean zero connectivity loss for an organization. Should the cellular link become unavailable, network traffic can then fail over to the satellite link.Use Case: Failover from cellular to satelliteConsider an emergency services base with a fixed site that needs to be online 24/7 but operates in a remote location with some cellular coverage available. Where wired lines are not available, cellular becomes the primary link. While the cellular link handles traffic under normal conditions, it automatically fails over to satellite if the performance declines or the link is inaccessible for any reason.Use Case: Critical communication in moving vehicles Given that wired connectivity isn't feasible in vehicles, leveraging a dual-modem router that supports multiple cellular carriers for wireless-to-wireless failover is optimal. Satellite can also be deployed as a third backup option where cellular isn’t available. For example, a fire truck battling a wildfire in a remote region might encounter limitations in cellular coverage. In such cases, satellite connectivity can serve as a failover link, ensuring continuous connectivity for mission-critical communications.But what if there is no cellular coverage at all in the area that an organization is operating in? It is still important to deploy an enterprise class router for security and to provide advanced networking if dual Starlink connections are deployed, but which router and how connected devices are managed, is important.What to look for in a providerIn addition to requiring an enterprise grade router that has the capability to manage complex link failover scenarios, there are three other key requirements to consider, especially for emergency services operators:1. Simplified Management: Often emergency services organizations are under-resourced in IT and networking. Having a sophisticated network that can be easily managed by a small technical workforce is critical.2. Security: While 5G cellular networks are well known for providing extremely secure connections based on intrinsic encryption, most LEO satellite systems have limited inherent security features.3. Link Bonding: In some instances, it makes sense to combine several links into a single virtual path, so it is important to have a solution that provides flexibility for all types of architectures.Looking for 5G routers which offer users connectivity with cellular, LEO satellites, and even wired connections is a must. Likewise, solutions which offer centralized management and visibility of all connected devices – including geolocation, connectivity status, and troubleshooting – ensures these devices will operate 24/7 without interruption.Even though the 5G network provides inherent security, emergency services should also look for providers who include a zero-trust network which can replace traditional VPNs and private APNs. Zero trust SD-WAN enables resilient WAN links with link bonding and through fast failover to a secondary link: for example, switching from one cellular carrier to another that has a stronger signal, or switching from a cellular link to a satellite link. Advanced web security protects users from email and web attacks.These solutions must also be quick to deploy and easy to manage from anywhere. This avoids adding workload to lean IT teams, and means they are not required to manage and deploy a separate security stack.In summaryRegardless of the approach your organization may take, the powerful pairing of cellular and satellite promises a more resilient network for seamless connectivity. This combined connectivity ensures that emergency services can continue to operate effectively and securely in various environments, overcoming the challenges of limited or unreliable coverage.By leveraging both technologies, emergency services can maintain critical communications links, enhance situational awareness, and ensure the timely delivery of services, ultimately improving public safety and operational efficiency.We've compiled a list of the best mesh Wi-Fi systems.This article was produced as part of TechRadarPro's Expert Insights channel where we feature the best and brightest minds in the technology industry today. The views expressed here are those of the author and are not necessarily those of TechRadarPro or Future plc. If you are interested in contributing find out more here: https://www.techradar.com/news/submit-your-story-to-techradar-pro

Apple’s last major redesign of a platform was iOS 7, a bright and vibrant take on the OS, but one that was developed and ultimately released within a different Apple. It was 2013, and Apple simply didn’t have as much of a cohesive ecosystem or as many devices.It’s not 2013, though. It’s 2025, and Apple has an expansive and extraordinarily integrated ecosystem – you can copy and paste between an iPhone and a Mac, with an iPad in between, or vice versa. Universal Control lets you use your Mac's keyboard and trackpad on an iPad, and AirPods quickly sync between them all.So with a feature set and a mantra or ethos that aims to blend hardware and software, Apple’s new Liquid Glass look for all its platforms – iOS 26, iPadOS 26, macOS 26, watchOS 26, tvOS 26, and visionOS 26 – starts to make a lot of sense.There’s also the fact that Apple has always loved glass; case in point, I’m writing this with Apple Park in view – a giant ring seemingly made mostly of glass.(Image credit: Jacob Krol/Future)Liquid Glass isn’t a giant redesign in terms of relocating buttons, as it was introduced by Apple during the keynote and later restated by Apple’s VP of Human Interface Design, Alan Dye; it’s designed to be instantly familiar.Shortly after the roughly 90-minute special event wrapped, I was able to join a conversation with Alan Dye. It was brief but comprehensive, focusing primarily on the new material and Apple’s approach to design.I don’t think we have to look very far, though, to find out where Liquid Glass came from. When Apple unveiled the Vision Pro and visionOS back in 2023 at WWDC, it was announced as the future, and in my use, it certainly feels that way. It overlays apps, messages, FaceTimes, movies, and everything else that can be a visionOS app onto the real world around you.So, if visionOS is the future, it’s arriving now for everyone else – well, now in a Developer beta, with a public beta in July, and this fall as a full release, all within Liquid Glass. It’s a translucent and sleeker OS than before. As you move your finger around the screen on an Apple Watch, iPhone, or iPad, it all sort of flows together.I got to try moving along the new bottom bar in Music, as the highlighted portion morphs into a perfectly rounded oval that glides smoothly along. You can say the same for the cursor on the Mac.Regarding the origins of Liquid Glass, Dye shared, “A lot of the work that you saw today was influenced by the many years that we've worked on visionOS.”And that was all about taking glass, thanks to its translucent nature, and allowing it to layer these various elements on the real world around you. That makes a ton of sense for a spatial computer that goes over your head and eyes.That effort eventually led to Dye and his team thinking about how they “might bring that language to the rest of our operating systems.” Of course, though, it’s not a one-for-one recreation. “We had to kind of treat glass very differently,” explained Dye. @techradar ♬ Ok I Like It - Milky Chance And after trying out Liquid Glass, it’s clear that it’s a screen with a proper back and the interface now flows between applications, over and around overlapping windows, and over a wallpaper. This digital material is far more malleable and transformable than actual glass.It’s still the classic operating system, but Dye hopes that it feels a bit different after some time – “it feels far more expressive. It feels far more responsive. You can kind of feel like you're pushing through the screen and kind of coming in contact with the Liquid Glass itself.”It’s also clear that Apple took their time with this release, and that, similar to any other feature the company rolls out, it needs to hit the mark. Dye shared that “99% of the work that we make in the studio never gets out into the world.” When asked why, he shared the notion that design is hard, specifically designing for simplicity.That’s sort of Apple’s secret sauce, and while Liquid Glass screams, well, glass and translucent, I think we’ll find that it has layers, and that just like any other OS release, it’ll evolve.For now, I’m just excited to see that evolution hit iOS as well as macOS, iPadOS, watchOS, visionOS, tvOS, and whatever else is yet to come.You might also likeThis is what really happened with Siri and Apple Intelligence, according to Apple15 things we learned at the Apple WWDC 2025 keynoteApple is out of surprises and focuses on making the future as clear as glass