The professional mobile radio (PMR) industry had its first major convening for two years since the outbreak of COVID-19. International Wireless Communications Expo (IWCE) 2021 completed its four-day conferences and exhibits at the end of September in Las Vegas. Since the international travel limitation and inconvenience are still in place, vendors from China were absent from IWCE 2021. Radio China talked to some of the vendors, such as POCSTARS, about how they navigated through the harsh time of pandemic.

In 2019, Louis Rong, President of POCSTARS, led its international business development team to participate the Critical Communications World (CCW) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and then PMRExpo in Cologne, Germany. At these two expositions, POCSTARS demonstrated its main software platform features, communicated with industry stakeholders, promoted customized solutions, and started some new partnerships. “Back then we were actively looking for resellers and partners in different countries. Appearing at Industry events was part of the effort, and it was rewarding,” said Rong.

Not being able to have face-to-face interaction with existing and potential partners means one important channel of engagement is interrupted. However, it did not change the leading Push-to-talk over Cellular (PoC) solution provider’s overall strategy, as Rong puts it. In the past two years, POCSTARS made a lot of progress by upgrading its software platform and optimizing features. 

a. Added important features, such as dynamic Geo-Group and video scheduling, to enhance performance.

b. Completed the redesign of the terminal APP and improved the PoC performance in areas of weak network coverage.

c. Introduced more than 100 APKs for the terminal version, shortened the terminal adaptation period and improved the ability of customization for users.

d. Provided a lower-cost independent deployment solution, the MiniServer, which allows users to set up their own PoC server at an affordable price and to secure their data well. 

e. Launched gateways that converge public and private networks so that POCSTARS PoC system can connect with the analog/DMR system.

f. Set up an after-sale servicing system to ensure that every customer’s requirement is well handled.

“At the core of our strategy is to win partners and customers with the right products. Our software suite keeps including new features based on requests from the market. We had a decent increase of sales driven by a growing partner base,” said Rong. POCSTARS measures its PoC solutions in six dimensions, feature, terminal, security, customization, service, and public & private convergence. POCSTARS’ product offering improved in all these six dimensions, and that is the key to growing partner community, according to Rong.