Cole Engineering Services, Inc. (CESI), an employee-owned small business, is an award-winning modeling and simulation company based in Orlando, Florida. As the primary developer and system integrator for EDGE, CESI works with Government and first responder stakeholders to make EDGE FRS available for training, provide support and troubleshooting to the EDGE user community, and add additional features and capabilities in support of new or emerging training needs.

The Enhanced Dynamic Geo-social Environment (EDGE) is a game-based software training application that emphasizes flexibility and ease-of-use. The First Responder Sandbox (FRS) 2 component of EDGE allows first responders and educators to role-play complex scenarios in a virtual environment, improving and reinforcing coordination, communication, and critical decision-making skills. Users control avatars representing their real-life role—teachers, administrators, school resource officers, local law enforcement—to execute any number of training scenarios of their own creation. The EDGE environment can be used to train for any type of incident, from parental custody disputes to potential bomb threats, an active shooter or other critical incident on campus.

EDGE is a training environment that is intended to be a group training tool where multiple trainees can assume any of the roles above to execute the desired training. It is not intended to be a single-trainee environment. The EDGE environment is not a training course in the traditional sense, but rather EDGE is a tool instructors use to train their First Responder teams in a safe environment where training scenarios can be changed or re-run as many times as necessary to provide a wide range of training possibilities. EDGE has an After Action review (AAR) capability where training sessions can be replayed with full pause, rewind, and fast forward controls to highlight key training points. Sadly, First Responder budgets often limit the amount of live training that First Responders can conduct. The EDGE training tool, while not intended to replace live training, provides the perfect way to augment and reinforce live training without the cost of a full-up live exercise.

FRS 2 (the School environment) is available free in the US to:

• Federal, state, local, tribal, or territorial government law enforcement organizations
• Federal, state, local, tribal, or territorial government or volunteer fire fighting organizations
• Federal, state, local, tribal, or territorial government or validated for profit emergency medical services organizations
• Federal, state, local, tribal, or territorial government emergency management organizations
• Accredited Public or private schools, colleges and universities for staff training.  Applications should be made by the administration office of the applying school, not by individual educators.  However, if EDGE is desired for instruction as part of a curriculum, or other for profit program, that would be considered a commercial application (see below)

Prior to obtaining the EDGE FRS 2 software, schools are strongly encouraged to have an emergency plan in place and to utilize qualified EDGE subject matter expert instructors.

EDGE is intended to be part of a comprehensive training strategy or curriculum.  As such, and to maximize training effectiveness, a course of instruction should occur as a prerequisite to, or in conjunction with, the use of EDGE.

If you do not qualify for the free version, the EDGE software is a licensable product for all commercial applications.  Licensing information can be obtained from the Cole Engineering Services, Inc. EDGE sales Team by contacting them at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

International distributions are available subject to bi-lateral agreements, treaties, and other applicable US laws.  For further details on international distributions, please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

If you qualify for the for the free version of FRS 2, please see the “How do I access an EDGE Training Session?” in the “Training with EDGE” section of the FRS 2 FAQ

EDGE is a graphics-intensive simulation requiring a computer with a discrete graphics processing unit (GPU). Many laptop and desktop computers include only an integrated Intel HD Graphics or Intel Iris Pro GPU and therefore cannot run EDGE. The GPU requirements listed below are necessary for a consistent and immersive user experience. EDGE may run on other GPUs with reduced performance and visual fidelity, but such configurations are not recommended as they can impair training efficacy. Please note the EDGE help desk cannot provide support for computers or GPUs that do not meet the minimum requirements.

Minimum Specs

• Processor: Fourth-generation (4000-series) Intel Core i5
• Memory: 8 GB
• GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (6GB VRAM) or equivalent
• Storage: 3GB free hard drive space (Note: After-action review replays require additional free hard drive space)
• Operating System: Windows 7 (64-bit) or Windows 10 (64-bit)
• Mouse
• Stereo headphones with microphone (for 3D sound)

Recommended Specs

• Processor: Sixth-generation (6000-series) Intel Core i7 or higher
• Memory: 8+ GB
• GPU: NVIDIA Geforce GTX 1070 (or equivalent) or higher
• Storage: Solid State Drive (SSD) or Non-Volatile Memory Express (NVMe) hard drive with 3GB free hard drive space (Note: After-action review replays require additional free hard drive space)
• Operating System: Windows 7 (64-bit) or Windows 10 (64-bit)
• Mouse
• Stereo headphones with microphone (for 3D sound)