NEXA, the enterprise mobility solutions provider founded in 2011 by Robert Morcos, has built its reputation on delivering custom Android solutions for some of the most demanding environments imaginable — from industrial IoT and retail floors to healthcare settings and first responders in the field. Now, the family-owned company is stepping into an even higher-stakes arena. NEXA has formalized a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, signaling a major expansion of its government partnerships and cementing its role as a trusted, U.S.-based architect of mission-critical mobile technology.
Backed by a $100 million strategic investment and an extended collaboration with Qualcomm, NEXA is positioning itself at the forefront of next-generation secure communications — including 5G sidelink technology that enables direct device-to-device connectivity even when cellular infrastructure is down or compromised. This is not the company’s first rodeo in the federal space; NEXA previously developed the LOBO device under a Phase II SBIR contract with U.S. Air Force Special Operations Command. In this VMblog Q&A, Morcos breaks down what this new DHS agreement means for resilient communications, emergency response, and the future of domestically engineered technology.
VMblog: To get us started, can you give our readers a quick overview of NEXA and your core mission?
Robert Morcos: Absolutely. At our core, NEXA is about delivering custom Android solutions for enterprises. Those solutions can be for industrial IoT settings, retail brands, healthcare environments, or first responders, including firefighters and EMTs. Lots of enterprises think they cannot afford their own custom connectivity solutions, instead opting for consumer devices. Our focus is simple— to work closely with our government and enterprise customers to create unique and truly scalable solutions that meet their mission-critical needs. The Department of Defense and companies like VaxCare, DoorDash, Edwards Life Sciences, Clear, and dozens of others work with us to create their own solutions. In turn, we provide them not just greater ROI, but far longer product development cycles, enhanced security, and solutions that are specific to their unique global workflows.
VMblog: NEXA recently announced a major partnership with the U.S. government. Can you share the details of that agreement?
Robert Morcos: We are incredibly excited to announce that NEXA has entered into a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS). This CRADA is a significant development, as departments like DHS need a U.S.-based partner to build their systems, but in many cases, they are also a relatively smaller deployment than major Tier-1 carriers or consumer-centric OEMs would be willing to take on. The formal framework we’ve agreed to allows us and DHS to collaborate directly on the research, testing, and development of mobility technology that meets their unique needs for resilient communications and secure supply chains across all of their mission areas.
And that’s a great example of the kind of agility NEXA brings to its customers. We’re able to jointly architect solutions wholly unique to a specific organization, while also consulting with them to give them visibility on new technologies they can leverage or market trends they need to be aware of. For example, for many of our customers, we’ve been able to ensure a resilient supply chain, limiting their exposure to issues like the ongoing memory chip shortage.
VMblog: What specific priority areas will this DHS collaboration focus on?
Robert Morcos: The collaboration is highly focused on advancing secure, resilient, and mission-ready mobile device solutions across several of the DHS key priority areas. Specifically, our joint efforts will target advancements in:
- Resilient communications
- Transportation safety
- Emergency response
The CRADA establishes the foundation to assess these new solutions directly against real-world use cases and demanding field environments. That might be Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN) or direct device–to-device connectivity for operations outside of traditional 5G coverage, or IoT solutions for ongoing monitoring. The possibilities are endless.
VMblog: Alongside the CRADA news, NEXA recently announced a substantial $100M financial commitment. How will that investment be utilized to support this initiative?
Robert Morcos: In direct support of this agreement, NEXA recently announced a $100 million strategic investment. This capital will be used to augment our product portfolio and expand our US-based design and engineering capabilities. Furthermore, it will allow us to scale our operations, diversify our manufacturing, and strengthen critical supply chains. This ensures that our U.S. government clients, global enterprise customers, and first-responder partners have a highly secure, reliable pipeline of domestically engineered technology.
VMblog: We noticed that Qualcomm is also a key part of this announcement. How is the relationship with Qualcomm expanding under this agreement?
Robert Morcos: As part of this CRADA initiative, we are extending our existing collaboration with Qualcomm to focus heavily on enabling 5G sidelink technology, with NEXA enabling Sidelink capabilities on select Sonim-branded rugged devices. For those unfamiliar, sidelink is a 3GPP-approved technology that enables direct device-to-device (D2D) connectivity by completely bypassing the traditional cellular network. This means devices can communicate with each other even in environments where cellular towers are down, compromised, or non-existent. DHS applications and similar emergency use cases stand to be direct beneficiaries of the advancements resulting from this collaboration. We are excited to be one of the first to help integrate this technology and expect significant adoption in the coming years.
VMblog: NEXA has a history of working with the defense and government sectors. How does this new CRADA build upon your previous federal projects?
Robert Morcos: This agreement builds directly upon our established foundation of innovation alongside government partners. Prior to this, NEXA successfully developed the LOBO device in collaboration with the U.S. Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) as part of a Phase II SBIR contract. That project resulted in a purpose-built, enterprise-grade, 5G End User Device (EUD) prototype specifically engineered to meet the unique requirements of Air Force Special Warfare (AFSPECWAR) Airmen. The new CRADA with the DHS leverages that same expertise, ensuring that future solutions for civil defense and homeland security are built with the exact same level of rigor and mission focus.
##
About Robert Morcos
Robert Morcos is the founder and CEO of NEXA (formerly Social Mobile). A leading provider of enterprise mobility solutions, NEXA has deployed over 24 million devices globally across all industries including healthcare, transportation, retail, and defense. The company, founded in 2011 with no external capital, has since scaled into a global business with operations in the U.S., India, Europe, and Asia. To this day, NEXA remains a family-owned and operated business.
