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How do Covia's products work?
Our products are all built on top of the DART (Dynamic Adaptive Run-Time) platform. The DART technology is unique in its ability to rapidly form ad hoc teams of devices into securely encapsulated Operations networks. It uses an entirely new approach to unifying the operation of devices and synchronization of messages, media and data by running a unification program called the Covia Connector at the OSI application Layer 7 on each device to create a new interoperability Layer 8.
This new Layer 8 spans all devices that run the Covia Connector unification program, enabling a new type of sophisticated cross-device super application, called “Connected Applications,” to rapidly form tightly integrated ad hoc teams of devices into collaborative Operation networks. Covia’s Alert and Respond and Push- to-Talk products are examples of Connected Applications which form teams of devices from those running the Covia Connector unification program.
Covia’s Command and Control product is a packaging of the DART platform into SDKs that include all the documentation, tools, frameworks and code needed to quickly port the Covia Connector to new devices and to rapidly build new command and control, situational awareness and collaborative communications Connected Applications.
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What is Push-to-Talk™?
Covia’s Push-to-Talk™ product is a rich multi-media collaborative communications application that cost-effectively supplements existing public safety radio communications systems using consumer mobile phones and carrier data networks. It adds interoperability across agencies, assured fidelity of voice messages, integrated voice, text and picture messaging, and provides coverage in existing public radio dead zones. Push-to-Talk is included in Covia’s Alert & Respond product.
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What is Command & Control™?
Covia Labs’ Command & Control product is a software development platform for building secure cross-device command and control, situational awareness, and collaborative communication Connected Applications. It includes two C++ Software Development Kits (SDKs) – an SDK to develop customized Covia Connectors, and SDK to develop Connected Applications. Provided frameworks and complete working Connected Applications to use as starting points greatly ease the creation of Connected Applications.
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What products does Covia Labs sell?
Covia Labs offers three products for government agencies: Command & Control™, Alert & Respond™ and Push-to-Talk™. In addition, Covia Labs licenses software to be preinstalled by manufacturers on their consumer electronics, personal computer and netbook devices.
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What does the Covia Connector do?
The Covia Connector
- Contains a Sandbox which executes Connected Application code while protecting against viruses and enforcing access rights.
- Establishes and carries out encrypted communications sessions.
- Exposes APIs and details about the device’s capabilities and characteristics to Connected Applications that run on it.
- Effectively turns all devices it runs on into one super device which gives Connected Applications direct access to the combined resources and capabilities of all.
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Who is the target market?
Push-to-Talk is sold to emergency response agencies, the Department of Defense, construction firms or any other organization that can be better served by inexpensive rich media, high-fidelity, wide coverage secure communication.
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Who is the target market for the Command & Control product?
Command and Control will be licensed to DoD agencies and contractors.
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Who are the board of directors?
David E. Kahn, Dan Illowsky and Ray Sidney.
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What are Connected Applications?
Connected Applications, such as Alert and Respond contain all the code needed to rapidly form operational teams of devices (running a Covia Connector) and distribute the appropriate code parts of themselves to each device in the team. Which code parts of the Connected Application are sent to each individual device in the team is based on the role selected for each device when a commander selects the device into an Operation. The code parts then run simultaneously on all devices seamlessly unifying the Connected Application’s access to shared media and messages.
The Covia Connector program runs the code parts in a secure sandbox and synchronizes all the events and data that drive Covia Connected Applications, such as Alert & Respond across the devices. The effect is the same as having multiple code threads of a conventional software application run on different CPUs in a multi-core processor, except that the different threads of the Connected Application, i.e. the self-distributed code parts, are running on different devices. Because the threads are running on different devices, the Connected Application has direct access to everything its threads are running on and can easily mix and match the capabilities and resources of all devices as needed. Messages, media, voice, maps, pictures and data collected by each of the devices become available on all the devices.
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Why do organizations need this product?
People do not always have push-to-talk, or rich media capabilities on their mobile phones – or if they do, it is rare that everyone in your organization is on the same network. Push-to-Talk turns ordinary devices into rich-media push-to-talk communicators on the same network – regardless of the phones’ different OSes, capabilities or cellular carriers.
