Vertex Standard recently introduced its eVerge EVX-Link, a pocket-sized solution that is projected to cost less than $500 and enables quickly deployable connectivity between multiple DMR Tier II systems via a mobile radio with an Ethernet connection, according to a company official.

Just 3×3 inches and weighing less than a third of a pound, the EVX-Link provides low-latency, standardized DMR Tier II links—not just for voice communications, but also text and data—between as many as 30 coverage areas of any size with a connection to power and a wired Internet connection, said Craig Chenicek, vice president and general manager of Vertex Standard. And, unlike other IP-based LMR connectivity offerings from other manufacturers, the Vertex Standard solution does not require access to a repeater, he said.

“Wherever you have one of our EVX-Link boxes connected to our EVX mobile, you can connect to another one anywhere on the planet,” Chenicek said during an interview with IWCE’s Urgent Communications. “If you drop one in Tokyo, one in Los Angeles and one in Chicago, those three coverage areas—whether they are repeater-based coverage areas or not—could then have ubiquitous coverage between those three locations.

“It kind of changes the perspective; you don’t have to replace any repeaters, because you’re not attaching to the repeater. You’re only dropping this EVK-Link solution into a coverage area where there already is some sort of coverage.”

One EVX-Link supports communications within an entire coverage area, does not require retrofitting and can be deployed within minutes (see video), Chenicek said.

 “You don’t have change anything in your subscribers,” he said. “So, you don’t have to throw away any of your repeaters or any of your subscribers. It is an overlay, and it’s unbelievably flexible, because all you need is a plug and an Internet connection.”

Demonstrated live to dealers and attendees during the week of IWCE 2015, the EVX-Link quickly generated a remarkable response, Chenicek said.

“We’re in beta testing now, and I’m overwhelmed by the support that has been shown and the expansive ideas that just come flooding in,” he said. “Every time we talk with a different customer or partner, someone focuses on a different vertical market and comes up with different solutions. It’s to the point where we’ve likely outsold our first year’s production in one day, because this thing has been so well received.

“This is something that no one has done before, and it’s highly useful in almost every environment.”