According to a news release today, the strategic partnership will leverage certain aspects of Carbyne’s c-Live Universe platform — which can receive a 911 caller’s location and then enable live video chat, instant messaging and data sharing for them — to improve CentralSquare’s computer-aided dispatch (CAD) and other public safety tools, which include 911 call-taking, record-keeping and various applications for in-vehicle and mobile devices that can gather location data and other information about emergency incidents. The news release said CentralSquare will use Carbyne’s expertise to improve some of its own standalone products, then integrate them with Carbyne’s platform in the coming months.
“Partnering with Carbyne will further empower our thousands of public safety customers with the new frontier in text messaging, video and more via 911 call,” said CentralSquare CEO Dave Zolet in a statement. “We look forward to working closely with the Carbyne team to help our public safety customers accelerate dispatch center operations and equip them with a best-in-class solution for keeping our communities and first responders safe.”
Founded in 2014, Carbyne has a history of partnering with other tech companies to make CAD systems faster and more data-driven. Its website lists 22 partners, and in the American gov tech space that includes Mark43, with which it partnered on a cloud-based CAD system in February 2019, and Cisco, with which it partnered on IoT data collection capabilities in April 2019.
Itself a merger of four software businesses, CentralSquare is one of many tech companies in the public safety space that have tried to stay competitive by acquiring or partnering with adjacent tools rather than building them in-house from the ground up. Most recently, CentralSquare acquired two companies in 2019, the asset management company Lucity and the CAD-to-CAD software company Tellus Safety Solutions.
