Posted by Tom Katis on May 24, 2010 – 12:15 pm
In April, the Emerging Communications Conference (eComm) returned to Silicon Valley . We have consistently found eComm to contain the most innovative thinking in communication technology.
Photo by James Duncan Davidson
RebelVox CEO, Tom Katis, gave an unusual talk for eComm: Everything You Think You Know About High Performance Military Communication is Wrong
As Tom points out, the radio is the most powerful weapon of any military unit and also it’s most important safety device. Everything rides on a unit’s ability to communicate effectively.
Because most of the audience is focused on commercial communications, it was thought provoking to take a dive into the world of Military communication and it’s unique capabilities and challenges.
New computing power and networking technology are changing the way people communicate and interact. As we try to anticipate the future of communication, it helps to look at the very real challenges the most sophisticated and well financed military in the world faces as it tries to improve it’s already substantial capabilities.
This is something that RebelVox focuses on, in addition to the potential commercial application of our technology.
This is the third time RebelVox has participated in this important event. We’ll post the link to the talk when it becomes available.
While the US government has long pushed for increased use of commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) technology, an even more dramatic direction is being taken to foment change in the development and acquisition of new technologies to support our armed forces in their defense and public safety roles.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) released a pair of solicitations this week (one for information and another for proposals) that are an attempt to leverage the radical innovation pace of modern technology AND the very powerful standard communication infrastructures that we use everyday. They are moving to use standard platforms (like the iPhone and Android) and standard cellular networks to deploy networked applications in the support of operations across the world.
This changes the game in so many ways. While previously only incumbents with deep pockets could play—and often with legacy technology to protect (sometimes invented in previous decades). Purpose-built military technology is expensive (for lots of good and not so good reasons) and once in the field it is hard to consider replacing it. But in the area of communications, applications, and network technology the commercial world has left our military technology in the dust. It’s cheaper. It’s faster to evolve. And it’s robust because millions of us use it everyday.
At RebelVox we see this as one of the key shifts that will bring the strength of dynamic IP-based networks, traditional software development, and rapid innovation cycles to tactical users; bringing the applications and capabilities that we use in our everyday lives into the field effectively.
To read more on this topic, see this article from The Register.
Posted by Dan S. on November 25, 2009 – 4:50 pm
We at RebelVox are grateful for the privilege of participating in the UrbanShield event hosted by the Alameda County Sheriff’s office last month, helping select first responder organizations increase their preparedness to serve their communities against a wide variety of threats.
We worked with communications officers responsible for coordinating a large number of people, activities, and information transfer needs. They used RebelVox software primarily for reporting scores and status of the exercise teams during the 48 hour event. As you would expect, there was initial hesitation facing a new tool. Quickly, however, our users grasped that mixing text and voice, live and recorded, with immediate on-screen recall and replay had advantages over typical Live-only tactical communications. They saw first hand, a unified system that can enhance radios, and replace notes, faxes, calls, and runners. They could picture incorporating this technology into their day-to-day communications fabric. It is always a great learning experience to put technology in the hands of real world users; here, gaining feedback from people working in a variety of public safety agencies.
Through our small UrbanShield pilot deployment, we have learned even more about the needs of such tactical users, and while we were glad to observe the positive reactions, quick usage adoption, and actual activity involving our new communication technology, we have also generated new ideas for how RebelVox can contribute solutions to this area. We look forward to even more interaction in this arena.
RebelVox for Dispatchers
Operations reviewing UrbanShield via RebelVox
Posted by Dan S. on October 23, 2009 – 11:06 am
This weekend, throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, the Urban Shield event takes place. A major training event for teams from emergency response and public safety jurisdictions, it draws many from Alameda County and several of the other surrounding Northern California counties, some from across the United States, and a couple from out of the country. Billed as “a real-life multidisciplinary training exercise”, each team works through a series of emergency scenarios of various sorts that have been designed and crafted by local jurisdictions and sponsors. They are challenged by the scenarios one by one, non-stop over a 48 hour period.
This is an important opportunity for our public emergency response teams to experience events in the field that come as close as possible to real crisis situations. They face challenges both physical and intellectual to execute on their training in preparation for dangerous incidents and public safety threats. Since they are scored on their success in each scenario, there is a winner at the end of the long weekend–a team that proves itself most capable of meeting each of the exercise obstacles.
The Alameda County Sheriff’s Office hosts Urban Shield, now in it’s 3rd year, supported by Homeland Security Grant funds. The program is being adopted by other jurisdictions across the United States and in other countries.
RebelVox is proud to be a sponsor and technology provider for the 2009 event.
If you want to learn more about the Urban Shield event, click to their website.
