The Instant Connect platform was originally developed by Cisco in the early 2000s, in response to the events of 9/11. The company – and the world – saw a gap in the ability of first responders to communicate across organizational and technical boundaries. Push-to-talk devices and radio networks, while invaluable, were isolated from each other, and connectivity to enterprise communications, mobile devices, and other desktop communications was still unachievable.
Cisco asked the question: What if ALL of these devices – PTT and IP – could share a common environment that allowed users to use any device they wanted, anywhere, to communicate instantly? In other words – what if mobile and other IP devices became push-to-talk devices at the same time?
Innovators at Cisco, led by Charlie Giancarlo, developed a roadmap to communication convergence. Starting with an inexpensive card on a router to digitize land-mobile radio (LMR) push-to-talk (PTT) audio over the Internet, the team developed the software to connect and manage all these audio streams through the network. This product started life as IP Interoperability and Collaboration System (aka IPICS) – which today is called Instant Connect.
Instant Connect is an affiliated business of the Dillon Kane Group, a Chicago-based provider of innovative technologies for diverse industries since 2002.
As a trusted partner of Cisco, the Dillon Kane Group purchased Instant Connect from Cisco in 2018. The entire Instant Connect leadership team joined us in the transition from Cisco. We have poured game-changing resources and investment into Instant Connect since then, leveraging our unique mix of business, technology, and financial expertise to propel Instant Connect to the next level in integrated mobile/radio/telephony communications.
The Dillon Kane Group builds great software businesses. The Dillon Kane Group is a privately-held entrepreneurial firm that invests in, builds, and revitalizes technology solution businesses. We focus primarily on software asset initiatives, buying and building businesses with our own capital and select outside investors and partners. More than 300 Dillon Kane technologists, strategists, and subject matter experts are currently developing tomorrow’s digital automation solutions, including mission-critical communications environments that can run on any network, anywhere, anytime.
We invite you to learn more about Dillon Kane Group and our ambitious long-range plans for Instant Connect. We look forward to sharing our vision with you. Visit the Dillon Kane Website.