Harris appeals to application developers with latest BeOn evolution
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Harris appeals to application developers with latest BeOn evolution
NEW ORLEANS—Harris today will unveil a new add-on element for its BeOn platform that allows it to incorporate a variety of third-party applications.
Harris will showcase the capabilities of its new Event Notification Server at the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO) conference today and tomorrow in New Orleans. Harris also will highlight recent partnerships with two companies—Yardarm Technologies and Blueforce Development—while inviting other developers to pitch their application ideas.
“We’re saying, ‘Hey, we have this app. It’s secure. It’s for public safety, and we would like you, application developers, to contact us and let us know what app ideas you have,’” Mike Pedaci, product line manager for Harris, said during an interview with IWCE’s Urgent Communications.
“Along with the ones we seek out internally, we want to advertise to the software-development community and see what ideas they have—or what companies out may be out there, like Blueforce and Yardarm, that would like to incorporate their technologies on our platform.”
Harris had already added a facial-recognition functionality to BeOn—a platform that initially enabled P25 push-to-talk integration from smart devices—and the partnerships with Yardarm and Blueforce represents the latest step toward broadening the data capabilities of the push-to-talk mobile app. BeOn is intended to serve as a solution that can help first responders with the migration to the nationwide 700 MHz LTE communications network.
“What it’s really about is providing a platform for sharing critical information from third-party applications to the right people at the right time through BeOn as a mechanism for doing that,” David Simon, product manager with Harris, said. “We can share either data, pictures, location—any information from a third party.”
Yardarm created a transducer that, when placed inside the handle grip of an officer’s firearm, can detect unusual movement, such as when the weapon is drawn, if the weapon has moved too far away from the officer (indicating it was taken) or if the weapon has been fired.