If a field worker runs into trouble, an expert can instantly see what the novice worker sees and offer real-time guidance toward a solution. The expert also can push documents or text messages to the field, for example to provide a list of instructions, color codes or replacement parts for reference during a repair. A markup feature permits an expert to annotate a screenshot of the remote camera's view and send it back with notes, arrows or highlights showing problem or danger areas. "The whole system pays for itself with the savings from one last-minute flight avoided," said Aponte.

During the early stages of Entervise development, IPS needed to fully understand the use case of technicians in the field. So it partnered with what Aponte described as one of the busiest service organizations in the world. "Partnering with Xerox let us hone in on the core feature set and create a minimum viable product."

Among the challenges, Aponte said, was to find the right set of words that would be recognized quickly and accurately. "The word 'Steve' doesn't work as well as, say, 'Stephen' because it ends in a soft vowel sound rather than a hard consonant. Words with a clear beginning and end are easier for a computer to recognize." Developers also found that when presenting a list of choices, numbering the list worked far better than having to repeat the actual choices by name. "The computer will recognize either, but multiple choice works better with a numbered list."

The HC1 uses speech recognition software from Nuance Communications running on Kopin Golden-I, an operating system based on Windows CE. "Four years ago, Android was very raw and no one could have known that it would grow the way it did," explained Maiman. "So we went with a known commodity that already had components and a developer ecosystem."

Another major challenge, and one that's usually out of anyone's control, is that of connectivity. When considering the system as a health care or triage tool, such limitations can be particularly vexing to a system that's otherwise ideal. "This solution allows one healthcare pro to communicate with another healthcare pro in life-and-death situations, speaking the same language and seeing the exact same things in real time," said Maiman. But life-critical situations are completely intolerant of failure. "I see the vision, but the reality isn't there yet," said Maiman. "Because the one time it doesn't work, they'll throw it away and never use it again. So we want to [perfect] it in scenarios that are not life-and-death situations."

Entervise client software pricing starts at $2,500 per user, which includes the Golden-I operating system for the HC1, Expert software and content syncing. Add $500 per user for the server side, to cover content management and video streaming. Prices includue one year of maintenance and support. Motorola's HC1 Headset Computer lists for $4,500.