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RIOS Communications Interoperability
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The SyTech Radio Interoperability System (RIOS) allows users of non-compatible voice and signaling systems to
communicate together regardless of format, frequency, or physical distance. With RIOS, law enforcement, public
safety, and federal agencies have the ability to create powerful, easy-to-use emergency-response networks by
interconnecting their existing communication resources.
RIOS interoperability packages range from standalone interoperability kits to statewide “system of systems”
enterprise networks. All RIOS Servers operate as standalone and/or wide-area interoperability servers with the
ability to patch, monitor, record, alert, playback, control and dispatch to locally interfaced communication
systems as well as systems connected across an IP network.
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Best of all, RIOS provides permissions-based, multi-site control of the standalone and wide-area RIOS system
through an easy-to-operate, icon-based graphical user interface (GUI). The RIOS GUI, co-designed by first
responders, dispatchers, and emergency management professionals, features local and “out-of-network” push-to-talk
dispatch, instant recall, internal text messaging, alert signaling (.wav), and a full host of powerful tools
designed specifically for interoperated emergency response.
From P25 trunking systems to simplex portables, RIOS (1) interfaces and bridges all types communication systems,
(2) creates a unified emergency-response “system of systems” among communities, regions, and states, (3) delivers
real-time communications to authorized managers and state officials located anywhere with an IP connection and
personal computer.
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What Types of Devices Can RIOS Interoperate?
RIOS interoperates trunking and conventional 800/700 MHz, UHF, VHF, low band, iDEN (Nextel and others), SIP, cellular, landlines
and more. RIOS can also interface and interoperate baseband, tone-controlled radios, repeaters, sensors, gateways, and consoles
via BIM card interface and programming.
RIOS features software-defined interface ports that accept all forms of signaling (RF, PSTN, iDEN, etc.) without the
restriction of device-specific analog cards. Logic-based, software-defined signal conversion assures universal system
compatibility, provides ad-hoc flexibility to first responders, and reduces follow-on costs associated with new equipment
(800 and 700 MHz expansion) and alternative system configurations (radio to PSTN, etc.).
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As the original hardware manufacturer and software developer of RIOS, SyTech has the ability to quickly adapt and customize
RIOS configurations to the specific needs of the system owner. As an independent communications integrator, SyTech has
extensive knowledge and experience interfacing and interoperating devices from various radio manufacturers including Motorola,
MA/COM, Kenwood, Harris, Thales, iCOM, GE, EFJohnson, Vertex, Midland, RELM/BK and more.
Whether you’re seeking tactical, mobile, local, or wide-area enterprise “system of systems” solutions, SyTech can design,
build, and support a RIOS system tailored to the unique communication requirements of your organization.
RIOS Interoperability Servers: Networkable Form Factors for Real-World Usage
With interoperability, one size does not fit all. In response to user demand, SyTech developed a scalable, IP-based
interoperability product line that connects multiple RIOS Servers (Fixed Site, Mobile, and Tactical) across all types of
internet-protocol networks. RIOS Servers used in concert with one another result in:
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Wide-Area “System-of-Systems” Interoperated Networks
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Remote Access to High-Level Emergency Response Managers
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Roaming Interoperability Networks with IP Reachback for “Out-of-Network” Mutual Aid.
All Servers operate in the standalone or network mode without reconfiguration by the system operator.
The RIOS SRT: Rackmount and Mobile Versatility
The RIOS SRT delivers the power of RIOS within a compact, durable enclosure designed for rackmount and mobile installations.
Integrate your current radio, telephone, cellular, and IP assets to create a consolidated dispatching center for deployable
and fixed-site environments.
Connect to wireless networks such as EVDO, WiMax, and satellite link for extended-range radio and repeater-like functionality.
Our most popular unit, the SRT has helped law enforcement, public safety and industry connect to their organization in ways
they never thought possible. Include wireless RIOS Clients for remote system and radio control. RIOS SRTs are available in 8
or 16 port configurations. SyTech offers total-system integration with the ability to design, build, and deliver a customized
RIOS package based on your unique communication requirements.
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(Download the Specification Sheet)
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The RIOS Tactical: The All-in-One Portable System
The RIOS Tactical integrates RIOS into a standalone interoperability package perfect for emergency deployment applications.
The RIOS Tactical offers 8 mil-spec interface ports featuring software-defined universal connections. The RIOS touchscreen
GUI allows operators to intuitively patch and communicate through low-band, VHF, UHF, 700/800 MHz trunking, land line, cell
phone, iDEN push-to-talk and more.
The all-inclusive RIOS Tactical improves response time by eliminating external PC controllers and connectivity errors.
Solid-state drives assure system durability while hardened, tactical casing protects the unit from normal wear-and-tear,
adverse weather, and environmental conditions. The built-in cable compartment limits the probability of misplacing vital
equipment and interface cables when they are needed most. With the RIOS Tactical and proper planning, your team is always
prepared to command and control the situation regardless of format, frequency, or device.
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(Download the Specification Sheet)
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The RIOS SR-3002 Enterprise Server: Local, Regional, and Statewide Interoperability
The RIOS SR-3002 Enterprise Server builds upon the foundation of the RIOS SR-3000 Series Servers. Built for optimal
performance and maximum scalability, the SR-3002 delivers RIOS interoperability to dispatch centers with conventional
and trunking systems. The SR-3002 provides system owners the ability to connect as many RIOS I/O chassis as determined
by the needs of their system. Interfaces to baseband, tone-controlled systems, consoles, repeaters, and gateways are
available with: (1) high-density connectivity, (2) four-wire interface, (3) BIM card interface and programming. Dou-core
processors, archiving, and fault-tolerant options help make the SR-3002 one of the most advanced interoperability engines
in the industry today.
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(Download the Specification Sheet)
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RIOS Client Software: Remote System Access for Authorized Users
RIOS Client software grants authorized managers, executives, and dispatchers remote access to system resources interfaced
through RIOS. RIOS Clients provide full-featured RIOS functionally (patching, dispatching, control, playback, etc.) from a
standard PC and a VPN connection. RIOS Clients are a powerful function of RIOS with benefits to all system users.
System Managers: RIOS Client Software provides managers the ability to monitor, communicate, patch, and operate standard RIOS
features using their own PC and Internet connection. Software licenses can be purchased to operate on most personal computers.
Mobile Users: Mobile users such as police cruisers and command vehicles have the ability to interoperate, patch, transmit, and
control their radio system from remote locations. Depending on the desired degree of connectivity, RIOS Clients can connect
via EVDO, WiMax, or satellite for reachback to their RIOS Server locations.
Dispatch Locations: With full-featured dispatch and control, answering points have the ability to dispatch remotely, offering
personnel assistance to understaffed centers during extreme situations. In the event of an evacuation situation, RIOS Clients
allow organizations to access, dispatch, and control their system from alternative locations. Alternative dispatch flexibility
can be crucial when managing high-impact emergencies such as hurricanes, pandemics, or homeland attacks.
State Officials and Disaster Response Agencies: RIOS Clients enable system administrators to extend “frontline” radio
communications to state officials and disaster response agencies in need of critical, real-time information. When decision
makers know the conditions on the ground, they can make well-informed decisions that save lives, time, and money.
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(Download the Specification Sheet)
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The RIOS Wide-Area Network
The RIOS Wide-Area Network refers to two or more RIOS Servers connected across an IP network. By interfacing locally to
communication resources (800 MHz trunking, conventional UHF/VHF, etc.) and connecting across an IP network (WAN, satellite,
WiMax, EVDO, etc.), participants of the RIOS Wide-Area Network have the ability to communicate across any distance
regardless of frequency, format, or physical terrain.
Built from the ground up to operate within the wide-area environment, RIOS provides a direct path to IP-network integration.
Featuring single-IP-address connectivity and meshed network topology, RIOS eliminates the need of a central server while
providing unsurpassed flexibility, resiliency, and network scalability. Combine RIOS mobile and tactical solutions, IP
reachback, mobile repeaters, and RIOS Clients for unsurpassed “out-of-network” emergency response.
Understanding the RIOS Wide-Area Network
The illustration below depicts an 800 MHz trunking system bordering a UHF and VHF system. This is a common occurrence whereby
a metropolitan/suburban trunking system fringes upon a rural UHF or VHF system. During high-impact events such as hurricanes,
tornado, floods, search and rescue operations, fugitive and pursuit situations, mutual-aid efforts are often limited by
incompatible systems.
With the RIOS Wide-Area Network (Zone 1), communication systems are bridged at the local level and connected across an
IP-network. The result is a seamless “system of systems” interoperated radio network that allows in-range users to communicate
to any other system. With this arrangement, patching among systems can be accomplished via dispatcher or from the field with
DTMF capable devices.
RIOS Clients (Zone 2) are granted access to the RIOS Wide-Area Network to provide (1) remote dispatching if necessary and (2)
real-time monitoring for state officials and decision makers. Where authorized, RIOS Clients operate with full RIOS
capabilities including patching, playback, texting, and asset control. RIOS Client Software can run on most Windows-base
operating systems and require a standard VPN connection with RIOS Licensing and Password Rights.
RIOS Tactical and Mobile Systems equipped with IP reachback (Zone 3) and network support (repeaters and deployable antenna masts)
have the capacity to act as roaming networks for situations requiring mutual aid outside an organization’s infrastructure.
SyTech has extensive experience building deployable communication systems and can provide customized integration packages
based on organizational requirements and resources.
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Who Uses RIOS?
RIOS is a proven interoperability solution in use by hundreds of single-system users and major State and Federal organizations.
The following list highlights major RIOS users.
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U.S. Army National Guard
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U.S. Air Force National Guard
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Department of Homeland Security
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Customs and Border Protection
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Federal Bureau of Investigation
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Drug Enforcement Administration
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Southeastern Pennsylvania, Philadelphia (4 sites)
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Island Interoperability of Puerto Rico (18 sites)
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Virginia Interoperability, RIOS COMLINC (32 sites)
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Where Has RIOS Been Used?
For almost a decade RIOS has helped first responders communicate under the most demand circumstances within the most
challenging environments. As a result of its reliability and ease of use, SyTech RIOS has been the interoperability
choice for several high profile events and emergency response efforts including:
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Kentucky Derby, 2008
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US Open, 2007
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Superbowl (Miami Beach PD and FBI), 2007
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XX Olympic Winter Games (Torino, Italy), 2006
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Hurricane Katrina and Rita Response (DHS), 2005
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Presidential Inauguration, 2005
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G8 Summit, 2004
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Democratic National Convention, 2004
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Republican National Convention, 2004
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Superbowl (Houston PD and FBI), 2004
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RIOS Functionality
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User Friendly Graphical User Interface – Patches among systems are displayed on screen as star clusters. Patches are established
by simply selecting the Talkgroup function and selecting the communications systems. Operators learn to use the RIOS in minutes.
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Permission Setting – RIOS provides system administrators with a full host of permission rights and privileges. A unique user id
must be entered by the individual to access the system.
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Remote Radio Control – RIOS High-Density Interface allows the RIOS operator to remote control “front-panel” radio controls front
the local RIOS Server as well as remote RIOS locations. Remote Control is a permissions base feature determined by the system
administrator.
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Ability to Act as Repeaters – All RIOS channels have the ability to act as repeaters and have full control of all incoming and
outgoing radio traffic.
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Dispatch Capabilities – All RIOS have the main functional capabilities of a dispatcher station, i.e. receive and transmit radio
channels and all transmissions may be recorded and played back. A number of our customers use the RIOS in command vans as back-up
911 centers.
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Software-Defined Input Channels – All channels are reconfigurable on the fly. Any radio maybe connected to any channel. Other
systems are hardware dependent, thus channels are radio specific. RIOS channels accept all signaling platforms whether RF,
PSTN, iDEN, etc.
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Integrated Voice and Data – When using multiple RIOS Servers, communications maybe made via radio (voice) or a wireless data
connection (802.XX) or any wireless integrated network. This communications capability is extremely useful during mutual aid
incidents.
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Audio Store and Forward – Channels interface with radio trunking systems intelligently. The RIOS will wait for the acknowledgement
tone before passing the audio to non-trunking systems, thus no audio is lost.
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Built-in Digital Recording & Traffic Analysis – RIOS Serves feature built-in digital recording capability. Audio and data are
recorded to the hard drive and archived on a permanent basis to archive media such as DVD.
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No Limit on the Number of Talk Groups – There is no limit on the number of Talk Groups. The number is only limited by the number
of channels available on the system.
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PDA Remote Client Module - Same capability as the PC Remote Client but adapted to the limited resources of a PDA.
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Automatic Report Generation – RIOS has ability to produce communication reports automatically. Reports will provide the time
of all transmissions, incoming or outgoing, length of call, time of call and other call record data.
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Why Interoperate with SyTech and RIOS?
From beginning to end, no competing interoperability system provides the flexibility, easy-of-use, functionality, and network
compatibility quite like RIOS. From connectivity to interface, functionality to data transport, the RISO logic-based
interoperability switch surpasses hardware and router-based solutions offered by the competition.
High-Density Input: RIOS goes beyond traditional “ear and mouth” interoperability to include options for data capture such
as Radio ID and GPS data. Instead of the traditional 4, 9, or 16 inputs (found on router-based solutions), the RIOS I/O
Chassis features 26-pin high-density connectors for added functionality. In addition to data transfer, high-density input
allows RIOS to offer on-screen remote device control for multiple vendors, makes, and models of signaling devices.
Universal Connectivity: Conventional interoperability gateways require signal classifiers or device-specific analog cards as
a means to interface gateway devices. This arrangement creates a host of problems for ad-hoc first responders while creating
additional follow-on costs as a result of new devices and technologies introduced to the market. SyTech overcomes this
limitation with software-defined universal connectivity. Universal connectivity allows RIOS to accept all types of radio,
telephone, iDEN, and satellite phone devices through each RIOS port. With RIOS, it doesn’t matter if it’s a Harris SINCGARS,
Motorola 800 MHz trunking radio, Verizon cell phone, Nextel push-to-talk or standard PSTN land line, you can be confident
that no matter the type of device you encounter your system will be 100% compatible.
Icon-Based Interface: SyTech’s interoperability experience has shown “ease of use” to be the single most important factor
for providing effective interoperability. When the situation is critical, ease of use can be the difference between saving
lives and losing lives. For this reason, SyTech designed the RIOS Graphical User Interface to be an intuitive icon-based
interface that instantly conveys the most important information (assets, groups, and functions) with real-time action and
display.
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For a video demonstration of the RIOS Interface, please click the play arrow in the center of
the screen.
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With RIOS, a picture says a thousand words; for example, transmitting assets flash red, receiving assets flash green, patches are
shown as cluster groups and radios, telephones and computers actually look like radios, telephones and computers. With “icon-based”
interoperability, the operator can see an entire communications landscape and respond quickly and accurately without relying on
“text-based” control. Combine RIOS with a touch screen display for added usability and an even quicker response.
SyTech has trained hundreds of law enforcement, first responders, dispatchers and military personnel; in most cases, first-time
system users can learn 80% of RIOS functionality within the first 10 minutes of training. In many cases, the people we train
today will not be the user of tomorrow; hence, it’s of highest importance that the system is intuitive and easy to learn for
first-time users and operators with limited time and computer training.
System Functionality: RIOS goes beyond traditional interoperability to provide the system user with a full host of powerful
communication tools. The following list highlights unparalleled communication tools available on all RIOS products:
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Selectable “Per Channel” Recording
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Playback and Report Generation
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Wireless System Control
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Wireless Radio Control
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On-Screen Device Control
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Multi-User/Multi-Site Network Interface
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Ability to Send Customized Alerts and .WAV Files
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Voice Modulation Recognition (VMR)
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Chat Messaging
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Dynamic Buffering for Trunking Systems
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Instant Recall
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Select/Unselect Audio Options
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Emergency All-Call
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Private Connections
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Remote Connect and Break-in
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Touch-Screen Design
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Push-to-Talk Dispatch
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No Central Server: Competing systems offered by Motorola, MA/COM, Cisco, and Raytheon require a central point of service
for wide-area applications. RIOS processes the next step to locally prepare all communications packets for meshed-network
topology. The result? Highly-scalable response nodes independent of network fluctuations. Simply put, if your network goes
down, your local interoperability will stay up.
In addition to resilience, independent servers allow organizations to build out their network independent from network
connectivity. This feature reduces installation timeframes and encourages system participation from individual owners.
Network Topology: RIOS was built from the ground up to operate within the IP network environment. Fully distributed, IP
based processing allows RIOS to efficiently route data across all types of networks (Satellite, DSL, ATM, MPLS, Internet, etc.).
The distributed design results in a truly meshed network topology that allows sites to function autonomously without the reliance
of a central hub, device-specific IP addresses, private virtual connections (PVCs), proprietary radio-over IP protocols, or the
risk of a single point of failure.
The RIOS Server requires only one IP address for all server input channels. RIOS reduces IP-address allocation by eliminating
address-specific DSP-2 cards and internal natting (Network Address Translation). All RIOS Servers multicast at the local level
while providing additional network multicast options for advanced networks. RIOS Site Builder allows network administrators to
“push-out” new network configurations to in-network RIOS Servers resulting in automated network configuration. Multiple layers
of security at the network and application level protect the Network from intruders and malicious entities.
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Meshed Network Architecture
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Selectable Compression
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Single-Server IP Addressing
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Error-Checking TCP/IP Connectivity
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Automated Network Configuration (RIOS Site Builder)
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SyTech customizes your RIOS to network with the resources you currently own and operate. Whether connecting with RF, satellite,
EVDO or WiMax, SyTech can integrate the ideal network solution specific to your organization’s needs and wants. With the RIOS
Interoperability your organization is prepared to handle all aspects of emergency response no matter where the incident occurs.
Dedicated Facilities with 24/7 Support: Dedicated facilities such as our RIOS Operations Center (ROC) support Wide-Area RIOS
Networks with daily maintenance checks and remote assistance. RIOS technicians are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
for personable, “know-by-name” support, advice, and training.
For almost 20 years SyTech has supported some of the most important communication initiatives inside and outside of the United
States. From presidential inaugurations, high-profile intercept assignments, world-class sporting events, and disaster-response
efforts, SyTech systems, facilities, and employees have been there when it mattered most.
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Value-Added Affordability: The logic-based platform of RIOS allows SyTech to offer more system for less money. Value-added
features such as dispatching, recording, radio control, and report generation go beyond traditional interoperability to deliver
a highly affordable system that inherently surpasses conventional requirements.
Responsive Original Hardware and Software Manufacturer (OEM): SyTech and its employees are a unique blend of radio engineers,
software programmers, systems engineers, and IT professionals. Founded by former NSA and Navy Lab engineers, SyTech has the
knowledge, expertise, and experience to deliver and support a system on par with your organization’s high standards of
performance. Whether your system requires customized hardware applications, specialized software development, or unique
network solutions, SyTech has the personnel and resources to make your interoperability assignment a success.
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Read more about RIOS capabilities:
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Resources:
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National Interoperability Radio Channels
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FCC Designated Interoperability Channels
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DHS National Inteoperability Field Operations Guide
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