About

About rTown

Travelers often have stipulations for visiting a community.  Do any of the hotels have a pool?  What kind of kid-friendly activities does it have to offer?  What kind of restaurants are available?

President and CEO, Ray Berry, of OmniByte Technology in Fargo, ND was first approached to build an app by a friend who serves on the board of a Convention and Visitors Bureau in a neighboring community.  He said the board was disappointed with their current mobile website, and discouraged by the estimated cost of building a custom app.

“They wanted to be able to provide current relevant information and also be able to reach out to users through notifications,” Berry said.

When he pitched the project to his team at NDSU’s Research and Technology Park, they said it would be impossible to do it for less than the cost of building a typical custom app.

After giving it more thought, however, OmniByte came up with an idea to build a platform that could be used by multiple communities and sold affordably many times over.

Thus, the rTown app was created.

How it works

Each city can customize the app via access to the rTown Administration Portal.  An administrator and authorized users are able to enter or import information into categories that include a business directory, shopping, and eating, hotels, city services, schools, attractions, events, and activities.

Users (citizens and guests) from around the world can download the app for free through the Apple and Android stores.

Communities pay OmniByte based on the population through a monthly or yearly subscription.

For now, Berry said the company is targeting communities 5,000 to 50,000 throughout the United States.  He is very excited about the interest, ease of use and helping communities promote tourism and economic development through the use of the app.