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Laptops armed with a versatile software platform proved invaluable during Katrina
Nov 23, 2005 11:10 AM  By Steve Grossman, Editor

Everything was down, telephones and cellphones, along with virtually everything else; but for rescuers carrying laptops equipped with Tactica, a server-free communications platform made by F4W Inc., it was quite a different story: They could very easily communicate with each other, according to Phil DuMas, vice president of research and development, at F4W. For this technology was designed specifically to work in areas where fixed infrastructure has been destroyed and traditional solutions are compromised. The platform software provides users with a common set of tools such as text messaging, voice over IP (VoIP), video over IP and file transfer. So the rescuers were communicating via VOIP, sending video over IP, and exchanging information using text chat.

The Tactica software platform, together with the wireless capability contained in F4W's PCMCIA card, enabled teams to communicate with each other from their laptops over distances spanning 1500 to 2000 feet--the range one would expect with a wireless router putting out 250 mW. The wireless technology employed by F4W is based on Motorola mesh-enable architecture, so it is able to bind with virtually any version of IEEE-802.11, with most cellular traffic towers and Bluetooth.

The Tactica software can reside in a laptop or a tablet notebook, and runs on any number of platforms, from Windows 98 to Server 2003. DuMas says that a Linux version is undergoing final testing. The platform functions either in the absence of a server, or with the Tactica Enterprise server, thereby providing the ability to communicate in virtually any environment.

Based in Lake Mary, Fla., F4W is a developer of proprietary mobile broadband wireless services applications and products.


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