Convos

Convos LLC is a privately held company that creates proprietary online communication and collaboration tools. It offers an online web application, Convos, for users to create and manage their own online groups. The service, launched in April 2008, provides functions for group communications, event planning and coordination, information sharing, and member management. Convos falls into a group of growing rich internet applications being supported by Adobe and Microsoft. Convos is slang for "conversations".

Collaborative Software and RIAs

The goal of collaborative software is to enhance productivity for their users, but many of them have yet to develop rich interfaces that can increase their utility. RIA technologies, like Adobe Flex and Microsoft Silverlight, are being used by new companies to match the desktop experience in efficiency and convenience.

As the first RIA in the consumer collaborative software industry, Convos illustrates the potential productive benefits that consumers receive. Enterprise collaborative software is remarked as being slow to adopt new technologies and are influenced by trends occurring among consumers. Adobe Flex operates on the Flash run time, which has a 97 percent penetration rate in desktops, and significantly cuts cross browser and OS development.

*Convos Interface
**Advertising Free
**Multiple Groups: Provides users with one-click access to all their groups. Rather than keeping users within one group or organization, the service emphasizes the management of a collection of groups for various purposes.
**3-Panel Layout: Standardized layout for navigating groups (left panel), sorting and retrieving content (middle panel), and viewing and editing content (right panel). This is a layout similar to Microsoft Outlook that brings desktop experience elements to the browser.
**Bandwidth & Navigation: One of its shortcomings is the initial load time of the Flex components upon a first-time login. However, the data transfer load greatly decreases during the use of the application as only group and user data is passed through instead of repetitive application components and elements.

Architecture and Functionality
*Architecture
**Amazon Web Services
**Java
**Adobe Flex 2

*Functionality
**Group Communications: Listserv, distribution lists, event notices
**Planning and Coordination: Event invites and tracking, event scheduling
**Information Sharing: Custom information pages, file repository, member directory
**Member Management: Custom member profiles, member permissions
**Personal Tools: Schedule, email, contacts, and personal files

The Company
The company, Convos LLC, formed in April 2006 and is assisted by Solidea, LLC, the sister company to Acquis Consulting Group, LLC.

Convos is located in downtown Manhattan (New York City). It is part of the growing wave of Internet startups in Silicon Alley.

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