Vocabulary
What the words mean
Relai uses a handful of specific terms. Here is what each one refers to, in plain language.
Exchange Zone (EZ)
- An Exchange Zone is a place in a neighborhood where Relai towers stand. People use one to leave something, collect something, or store something for a while, on their own schedule and without arranging to meet anyone. The category is asynchronous access: the two sides of a handoff never have to be in the same place at the same moment. An Exchange Zone can hold a single tower or several, and it always has a street address someone can walk to.How Exchange Zones work
Tower
- A tower is the physical structure installed at an Exchange Zone. It holds the compartments and the electronics that open them. The next generation is configured compartment by compartment, so a host can change the mix over time without replacing the tower that is already there.How Exchange Zones work
Compartment
- A compartment is a single secure door in a tower. A person opens one compartment at a time, from an EZ App, and it stays closed to everyone else. Compartments come in several sizes, and a location picks the mix it actually needs rather than a fixed configuration.
EZ App
- An EZ App is the mobile app someone uses to find an Exchange Zone and open a compartment. Relai publishes apps for its own markets, such as EZ PGH in Pittsburgh and EZ ATL in Atlanta, and Relai 3 partners publish their own for their own communities.See the apps
Relai Access
- Relai Access is the platform behind everything else. It is the account someone signs in with, the dashboard an EZ Host configures a location from, and the SDK a Relai 3 partner builds against. One account covers every role.Go to Relai Access
Finish
- A finish is the colour a tower is ordered in. Black is the default, and there are seven colours besides it. The finish changes nothing about the compartments, the app, or the hardware underneath, so a location can pick one to suit the building rather than to suit the product.See the finishes
Host wrap
- A host wrap is a tower surfaced with the host's own artwork rather than a single colour. It is how an Exchange Zone can read as part of a cafe, a market or a transit stop instead of as equipment parked outside one. Wraps are ordered the same way a finish is.See the finishes
EZ Host
- An EZ Host is a property owner or operator with an Exchange Zone on their site. A host chooses how many compartments the location needs and in which sizes, then adjusts that mix from Relai Access as the location changes.Host an Exchange Zone
Relai 3
- Relai 3 is the program for partners building their own app on top of Exchange Zones. A partner works against a simulated network in the sandbox first, then connects the same code to real hardware once the workflow is ready.Build on Relai 3