Back in early May, Utility – the innovative tech company that continually delivers groundbreaking digital systems for frontline professions – announced the unveiling of their new names, logos, and products as a part of their continued growth. And since Utility calls 250 E Ponce “home,” we joined forces to host a Showcase: Utility Brand Evolution so the company could celebrate the launch of this exciting new chapter with all of our community members.
As attendees gathered in the seventh floor conference room, Utility’s President and CEO, Michael Nark, kicked things off with a quick introduction and a few words about the history of the company, as well as the future, where they fully intend to continue growing to serve the police force and the community. Then the interactive session, led by Kristen Jaynes, Director of Marketing, officially commenced and included a tour and presentation around Utility’s revamped branding and their intelligent body camera technology solutions.
For instance, each Utility product has a celestial-themed name: EOS, Rocket, Polaris, and Helios. Additionally, the company uses Motorola devices as their remote filming device for body cams and they design the uniforms for frontline works to accommodate future models as well, so that additional alterations won’t be necessary with each phone upgrade. And speaking of design, it takes 18 days from start to finish for the alterations to be made to police uniforms.
Attendees also learned that Polaris will be released in August, providing digital processing tools for live camera feeds. Users will be able to zoom, adjust brightness, and includes other features that will make identifying people and locations easier.
Weighing in on this was Chief Scott Richards of the Decatur Police Department. "We’ve been with [Utility] since 2015. Before, you had to manually turn [the cameras] on and off, so a big selling point was the censors. It was new technology that brought us together, and we’ve been happy ever since!”
As for the tour, it included the first and third floors of Utility’s space. From storage and shipment to the seamstress and alteration area to the software engineers and tech development room, it was a truly unique experience for people to get a look behind the scenes of this ever-evolving company.
And while participants enjoyed a curated taco bar crafted by Chef Mark Gallagher, Raymond Harrison, VP of Technology, demonstrated an upcoming community safety feature in which Decatur residents can volunteer to register cameras with the city via a Citizen upload link. This will allow for police to have more data and footage from others, versus only having access to the cameras they own.
Raymond also showcased previous and current models of Rocket, which provides hotspots, GPS, diagnostic readings, license plate readings, and more. It is made out of solid metal, to withstand being in the field.
Not only did our community members learn a lot from this showcase, but we learned a lot about them! Since Utility provides equipment to capture, store, and share digital media, we asked them how they do that at work or at home:
Despite the variety of responses, it’s made clear there is a strong need for platforms and programs for people to perform this activity. Just like frontline professions need Utility.