Author: SWPhil

StreetWise has recently become a RAM Mounts dealer. The reason you may ask? We attend numerous fire and emergency services conferences and exhibitions where our software is on display and is demonstrated. RAM Mounts are used exclusively to manage our display pieces and we have found them ideal for mounting tablets with-in client apparatus. Numerous inquiries are received at every venue as to whether we sell them, as the mounts are sturdy, attractive, and well-suited to our purpose. We believe we can provide an additional service by offering ancillary products that are carefully chosen and that we can wholeheartedly recommend. RAM Mounts is the first product we have considered and believe we can be proud to represent. For more information please contact Rich Ferguson (rferguson@hangar14solutions.com) at 800-718-8027.

StreetWise CADlink was proud to be selected as one of only three public safety software applications to be featured at the APCO Broadband Summit at the Washington Court Hotel in D.C. on May 14th. Phil Kouwe, President of Hangar 14 Solutions, was invited to be a speaker at the event, which spotlights the developing use of broadband in advanced public safety communications. With over 200 attendees, representing 38 states as well as Australia and New Zealand, APCO’s 3rd Annual Broadband Summit was considered to be a great success.

Chief Charles Dowd, FirstNet Board Member, gave the opening keynote remarks and talked about his experience dealing with Superstorm Sandy. Dowd’s opening was the perfect segue into the day’s sessions, which focused on technology and the future of public safety communications. The morning extended into presentations on fostering innovation in public safety apps, including remarks by Brian Forde, representing the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. Kouwe’s presentation of StreetWise CADlink was part of a panel session spotlighting advanced communications and data sharing by public safety agencies using mobile broadband in the field.

Kouwe highlighted the ability of the StreetWise cloud-based data management system to allow departments in different states or even different countries to collaborate live, in real time, on common incidents. The attendees heard about the system’s collaborative map environment, shared tactical waypoints, and interactive messaging. Along with two other application developers, Kouwe fielded questions from the group about the challenges of the development process and moving new technology into a historically-traditional market.

StreetWise CADlink was recently spotlighted in a presentation by Ken Rehbehn, Principal Analyst for Yankee Group Research, at the International Wireless Communications Expo in Las Vegas. Yankee Group is a research and advisory firm providing information for enterprises in the mobile world. Rehbehn is an expert in public safety mobile broadband communications. He publishes in leading industry publications and frequently speaks at industry conferences. In addition to publishing opinions on trends and the competitive positions of vendors supplying solutions, Rehbehn provides consulting and training to operators, vendors and enterprises.

Mr. Rehbehn’s poresentation, “Deploying Tablets: A Use Case Tour”, highlighted the increasing use of tablets in public safety and identified some of the reasons tablets are a clear winner for street use by emergency responders. He went on to highlight four specific examples of the emergence of highly technical solutions for the niche public safety market, one each for police, fire, EMS and public utilities.

StreetWise CADlink was chosen by Mr. Rehbehn as the example for fire service applications. His presentation included a discussion of a few of the features of the software and its unique approach to cloud server storage and sharing of critical response data.

On its website, Yankee Group forecasts that “the mobility revolution is a $3 trillion market opportunity and the dramatic changes brought on by this revolution will play a larger role in the lives of consumers, workers and enterprise decision-makers going forward.”

A copy of Mr. Rehbehn’s full presentation is available here.

StreetWise CADlink was selected to be the new product showcased at the annual Technology Summit sponsored by DriveWise of Canada in Barrie, Ontario on September 13 and 14. The annual event is attended by public safety agencies from throughout Canada, as well as other industries involved in transportation and truck operations. StreetWise President Phil Kouwe attended the event and provided two presentations explaining the system’s unique cloud architecture and demonstrating live operation on the big screen. A booth was also staffed to answer follow-up questions and provide one-on-one demos to interested parties.

“This was a great opportunity for us”, Kouwe said. “We’re anxious to get into the Canadian public safety market and DriveWise has a great reputation for advanced technology such as driving simulators and 3D training. It was a perfect fit. We even got to play with some new technologies that are also just now coming to the public safety market so it was educational as well.”

Final arrangements are in the works now for DriveWise (the similarity in company names is purely by chance) to be the Canadian distributor for StreetWise CADlink.

Recent conversations with various public safety units – including police, EMS, and firefighter – highlighted a key barrier that has slowed adoption of consumer-grade tablets into the fire department – the lack of Android and iOS applications to support key workflows in this market.

Streetwise CADlink™ application on tablet.

Many police departments, on the other hand, have experimented more with laptop and tablet technologies, and thus have drawn more attention from commercial vendors offering applications and hardware packages. In order for fire department units to take advantage of the more cost-effective consumer-grade tablet device, we will need to see a stronger ecosystem of apps develop to further the utility of these devices when firefighters bring these devices into the field.

One FD IT department we spoke with expressed the challenge this has presented for their department in deploying tablets. This unit explained that they would likely deploy Android tablets – largely because the application Streetwise CADlink™ is currently available for this OS. The Streetwise CADlink™ was developed by Hangar 14 Solutions – a company led by firefighting veteran Phil Kouwe.

[button link=”http://blog.vdcresearch.com/mobile_and_wireless/2012/05/hangar-14s-streetwise-cadlink-application-to-support-adoption-of-consumer-grade-tablets-into-the-fir.html” color=”silver” newwindow=”yes”] Read VDC Research Article[/button]

Hangar 14 Solutions, LLC, which produces StreetWise CADlink™ tablet-based response information software, has announced a strategic partnership with CodeMESSAGING.net, providers of text messaging dispatch services for fire departments. Phil Kouwe, President of Hangar 14 Solutions, described the relationship as “a perfect fit”.

“Our company has a great tablet solution for emergency responders, but it depends on fast and accurate transfer of information from a client’s dispatch center. CodeMESSAGING.net excels in providing solutions for CAD messaging export. For many of our clients, we’ll be leveraging their expertise to ensure the best operation of our software,” said Kouwe.

CodeMessaging.net’s President, Dewey Thomas, re-iterated the benefit, “We choose our partners carefully and StreetWise CADlink™ is an ideal fit to our network. Now first-responders are able to receive and map the alert on their mobile device, monitor the status of other responders in the station, and use that same information in the apparatus en-route to the call via StreetWise CADlink™ seamlessly and in real-time. It’s a game changer”.

The agreement includes cooperative marketing efforts and will also allow both companies to offer discounts to each other’s clients. Current CodeMESSAGING.net users will see discounted initiation fees if they want to subscribe to StreetWise CADlink™’s tablet response software. Likewise, clients of StreetWise CADlink™ can choose to integrate the full range of text and response messaging management services that CodeMESSAGING.net users enjoy at a discounted rate.

StreetWise CADlink™ is a new breed of technology for the fire and emergency services. Hangar 14 Solutions calls it “RIS” for Response Information Software. While Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) software focuses on the needs of the telecommunicator, and Records Management Systems (RMS) focus on the needs of the data managers and performance analysts, StreetWise CADlink™ is all about what happens on the street!

It’s about getting critical response information into the hands of emergency responders quickly and efficiently, using a simple and intuitive mobile interface that they use every day. So simple, in fact, that it’s virtually turnkey.

[button link=”http://www.truckcommittee.com/content.php?225-CADLink-Response-Information-Software-by-StreetWise” color=”silver” newwindow=”yes”] Read entire featured article…[/button]