CCS Connect

With CCS Connect, users can press a walkie-talkie button on their Android devices to ask questions about safety issues, RFIs or design documents, while viewing the situation or document in real-time.

CCS Connect is a mobile app with embedded push-to-talk messaging. The set of people available to each user is controlled by the CCS Connect administrator and audit data is available to analyze communication patterns over time, by user, by group and by project.

Push-to-talk (PTT) is a communication style in which a user presses a button to live-transmit to one or many people at once. These communications differ from typical VoIP or telephony in that the communication is instant because there is no call setup or tear-downs, (e.g. no dialing a number, ringing or voicemail).

More advanced push-to-talk systems also allow sets of targets to be pre-configured or set up on the fly. For example, on a construction project involving 100 people, an administrator or user can selectively target any combination of people, rather than broadcasting to everyone. In such cases, PTT becomes useful for dispatch-style communications or other use cases where the participants in the communication process are changing and fluid.

CCS Connect features

• Automatic configuration of microphone, speaker, and device identification

• Push-to-talk with < 200ms latency

• Multimedia group communication with up to 500 people at once

• HD audio with real-time adaptation based on network conditions

• Text messaging

• Photo messaging

• Video messaging

• Location exchange

• Presence (online, away, offline)

• Offline messaging

• Always-on background mode

• Live streaming over WiFi or cellular

• Group rights and controls

• Mute / unmute / re-stream capabilities

• Guaranteed message delivery

• Message delivery status tracking

• Message archival and retrieval

• Message full text search

• Mobile Push notification alerts

• Controlled directory, with users & projects groups created and maintained automatically

CCS Connect virtualizes the walkie-talkie in the same way we've seen technology collapse physical devices such as GPS, camera, PDA, music players into smartphone-based software replacements.

CCS Connect uniquely combines real-time and asynchronous messaging together. On the one hand, CCS Connect provides a real-time push-to-talk experience. On the other hand, the end user can choose when to turn the virtual walkie-talkie feature ON or OFF. When ON, audio streams live. When OFF, audio is buffered on the CCS Connect server, e.g their messages wait for them.

As soon as users turn their walkie-talkie back ON, any missed audio can be re-streamed to them. This applies also to text, photos, videos, and any other raw data passed through CCS Connect. The ability to control the immediacy of the communications translates into greater end user productivity and satisfaction. The walkie-talkie feature can be intrusive (and sometimes needs to be) but users may also need uninterrupted moments, and to have meetings (or lunch) without losing access to communications flow that occurred while they were away. The CCS Connect mobile app and servers work together to make sure a message is never missed and can be received on demand when needed.