AT&T on Monday launched a new service to help 911 agencies upgrade their old emergency networks to IP technology.

According to AT&T, the new service – dubbed ESInet – can handle both voice calls and texts. AT&T said the network will also support picture and video messaging in the future.

AT&T said the service will help agencies better manage 911 calls and handle call overflow between Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs) and disaster recovery locations. The service is National Emergency Number Association i3 standards compliant, the carrier said.

“The complexity of NextGen 911 call routing has been a large barrier to adoption,” AT&T Public Safety Solutions vice president Jim Bugel said. “AT&T ESInet is a nationwide service that will simplify the transition to 911 IP call routing services.”

Over the next 18 months, AT&T said it will deploy West Corporation’s technologies in its central offices and data centers to support the service, which is expected to become available in the second half of 2016.

AT&T said it plans to roll out the service as the leading NextGen 911 offer across its 21-state footprint.

The rollout will include enough call processing capacity to serve more than twice the current nationwide 911 call volumes, AT&T said.