MobileDemand Introduces World’s First Windows 8 Rugged Tablet PC
xTablet T1200 Windows 8 Rugged Tablet PC
MobileDemand have announced the launch of the high-performance, all-light readable xTablet T1200 Windows 8 Rugged Tablet PC. This best-in-class military grade rugged tablet was developed to bolster productivity for mobile users who work in demanding environments such as utilities, mining, oil and gas exploration, construction, facilities management, field service, mobile supply chain management and public safety.
Windows 8 Rugged Tablet PC get more done, faster !
The xTablet T1200 bolsters productivity for mobile users who work in demanding environments. This fully rugged tablet provides great total cost of ownership and long-term savings over non-rugged devices with near 100% up time in mission critical line of business applications.
xTablet T1200 Features
10.4″ multi-touch resistive 10.4” LCD display.
Powered by the latest Ivy Bridge Intel Core i5-3427U processor and either the Windows 8 or Windows 7 Professional operating system.
Multi-touch, full drive encryption of Windows Bitlocker, the Windows Defender anti-virus application and VPN with Windows 8.
Mobile workers stay connected with the optional 4G LTE or 3G Gobi WWAN radios and wireless networks.
IP65, MIL-STD 810G/F certified. That means your information is safe even if dropped shocked or exposed to water and dust.
Two 6-cell 116 watt-hour hot swappable batteries last a full shift or longer – up to 10 hours.
Supports a 64 GB to 256 GB and beyond mSATA solid state drive with an option to add a second high capacity hard disk drive.
Two USB 3.0 ports and an integrated RS-232 serial port, plus 3G, 4G LTE and Bluetooth 4.0 communications.
Integrated bar code scanner and RFID reader, built-in numeric keypad.
High resolution font facing and 5 MP rear facing camera, integrated GPS, PCMCIA, SDHC and smart card reader.
T1200 will come with the usual huge range of accessories that make a rugged tablet PC easier to use in the field.
How can a NEW xTablet T1200 rugged tablet PC help in your Enterprise Mobility deployment ? – T1200 will be available in January 2013 sign up to try one FREE for 10 days.
GPS can help the ROI of your Enterprise Mobility Project
We asked Mike Forbes at Electric Compass to explain how GPS can help the ROI of your Enterprise Mobility Project.
Track workers with GPS
GPS navigation is a trans formative technology for both consumer and business users. It definitely fits the statement that “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” And why not? – GPS knows where you are and takes you where you’re going…just like magic.
But the real magic is in the return on investment it can bring to fleet operators.
What follows are some quick and powerful ways you can quantify the ROI magic and sell it to your business. And keep reading, the real ROI magic may not be what you think it is.
How to quantify the ROI of Turn-by-Turn GPS Navigation or Tracking
There are two main areas where a fleet can benefit from deploying GPS navigation or tracking solutions.
Use less fuel and reclaiming unproductive driving time. Here, we’ll look at how you can show these savings as concrete numbers and then combine them to make a very persuasive case for GPS.
Note: We are using miles/gallons/dollars in the examples below, but these can be easily translated into KMs/liters/Euros or other currencies. Replace labour rates and current fuel costs with what you expect to see in your area.
Save Fuel
Ask colleagues how much fuel they think they’ll save by using GPS and they’ll be hard pressed to provide an answer. Odds are, they’ll agree there will be savings but have little idea of how much. Here is an approach you can use to determine what level of fuel savings a fleet customer will see:
Benchmark: 12% Fuel Savings for mix of routine and non-routine travel. Research from a large digital map supplier showed that users of GPS saved an average of 12% on fuel. If the fleet manager can provide a number of miles traveled per vehicle per week and an average miles per gallon rating for fleet vehicles, this is a pretty easy calculation. For this example, we’ll use a figure of 400 miles a week and 12 miles per gallon per vehicle.
GPS Fuel Savings Example: 250 vehicle fleet
Miles Traveled per week: 400
Miles Per Gallon per vehicle: 12
Fuel Used per vehicle: 33.33
(Miles Traveled divided by Miles per Gallon)
Fuel Cost per gallon: $ 2.66 – will be much higher in EU. Check for average prices here.
Weekly Fuel Cost per vehicle: $ 88.66
(Fuel Used multiplied by Fuel Cost)
Weekly Fuel Cost Savings per vehicle: $ 10.64
(Weekly Fuel Cost multiplied by .12)
Yearly Fuel Cost Savings per vehicle: $ 532
(Weekly Fuel Cost Savings multiplied by 50 weeks)
Yearly Fuel Cost Savings for 250 vehicle fleet: $ 133,000
(Yearly Fuel Cost Savings multiplied by 250)
Save Time
With enough ROI from fuel savings alone to justify GPS navigation, the real magic of GPS actually kicks in when you look at the field worker labour time you can save. Here is a way to determine what the savings per driver will be:
Benchmark: 54 Minutes Saved per day by using GPS. In research by a major mobile computer maker fleet operators reported an average savings of 54 minutes a day per field worker for a total labor savings of $5,484 per year. That works out to an hourly labor rate of about $26 an hour. If the fleet operator you are working with has a different hourly rate for its drivers/technicians, you can plug in that number instead. If you round the minutes down to 45 per day, you can show savings of $19.50 per day. How does this play out for a fleet:
GPS Labor Savings Example: 250 vehicle fleet
Hourly Labor Rate: $ 26.00 – add your rate here.
Daily Labor Savings per driver (45 minutes): $ 19.50
(Hourly Labor Rate multiplied by .75)
Weekly Labor Savings per driver: $ 97.50
(Daily Labor Savings multiplied by 5 days)
Yearly Labor Savings per driver $ 4,875.00
(Weekly Labor Savings multiplied by 50 weeks)
Yearly Labor Savings for 250 vehicle fleet: $ 1,218,750.00
(Yearly Labor Savings multiplied by 250)
Yes, that’s over a million dollars a year for 250 drivers or technicians.
Think you can’t save 45 minutes a day?. Even if the savings is only 45 minutes a week, the yearly savings are still $975 per worker and over $240,000 for a 250 vehicle fleet, representing a payback time of a matter a months.
And while time savings can translate into lower labour costs these savings could also allow fleets to schedule more stops and more customer facing activities per driver per day. For example, if an average stop takes 20 minutes based on the 54 minutes of time reclaimed an additional stop could be added to each driver’s schedule. This translates into significant savings as a leaner fleet can service the same number of stops or the current fleet can add more stops.
Add It Up
Now, let’s look at the total savings from using GPS navigation on a per-vehicle and total fleet basis:
Per Vehicle/Driver Savings
Yearly Fuel Cost Savings per vehicle: $ 532
Yearly Labor Savings per worker: $ 4,875
Combined Yearly Savings: $ 5,407
Yearly Savings by Fleet Size
25 Vehicles
$ 135,175
100 Vehicles
$ 540,700
250 Vehicles
$ 1,351,750
So, this is how GPS can help the ROI of your Enterprise Mobility Project. If you have ever had any questions about how to present the value of GPS tracking or navigation to colleagues in your business, just let the numbers speak for themselves…they are magic….!
The NEW xTablet T7200 rugged tablet PC is a multi-functioning rugged handheld with 4G LTE and 3G Gobi 3000 connectivity options and features the innovative new xView Pro™ sunlight readable display technology. It offers the functionality of a notebook full connectivity and the portability of a rugged handheld device.
Our objective -continue to deliver significantly superior performance and return on investment ROI over traditional PDA’s used in enterprise mobility deployments.
NEW xTablet T7200 rugged tablet PC is IP65 rated and offers a built-in numeric keypad, optional bar code scanner, 802.11a/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0 and optional 4G LTE or 3G Gobi 3000 radio WWAN connectivity. Units will initially ship with Windows 7 Professional and the all new supercharged Intel® Atom processor with dual core provides 2.35 times better CPU performance and 3.93 times better disk performance to handle graphic intensive applications at a lower cost than other high-end processors. Check out the specs.
Bright xView Pro Screen
T7200 features the new xView Pro display technology which not only significantly conserves battery life offers enhanced viewing in bright sunlight to help field workers be more productive.
Upper left: Indoors. Upper right: Shaded area outdoors. Lower left: In bright indirect sunlight. Lower right: Direct sunlight.
The versatility of the xTablet T7200 make it a great investment on a lease and ideal for users in any environment considering rugged handheld deployments including agriculture transport and logistics, field service, facilities management, van sales, retail supply chain, manufacturing, warehousing military and public sector.
T7200 has a huge range of accessories to make the rugged tablet PC easier to use in the field.
How can NEW xTablet T7200 rugged tablet PC help in your Enterprise Mobile deployment ? – try one FREE for 10 days.
Mobile Application Development Platform Vs Traditional Coding – Deployment
Use Apps on Any Device
Implementing a project from a written specification using traditional coding methods like C# and VB.NET is one issue that we can overcome by using our Mobile Application Development Platform. Deploying a project is the next problem !
Deploying applications when using coding methods like C#, and some other available platform tools requires the compiled application along with all drivers like barcode readers, 3G comms camera and mobile printers to be manually loaded onto the device. This isn’t necessarily an issue for the initial deployment but what happens when the application requires an update? The customer purchases new hardware? Or updates the operating system?
In almost all cases the application need to be edited by the software house re-tested and then the devices need to come in from the field to be refreshed with the updated software. This takes time and eats resources not to mention losing money while the devices are no in the field and takes control away from the customer. There are additional tools available to assist with remotely deploying files to a device but they can be expensive and the software cannot be in use while the update takes place.
This is another area where MobileFrame excels. Our mobile application development platform like all other software does require an initial install but includes all of the drivers required. Once the software is installed the device can stay in the field. When the user logs in any applications and data assigned to the user will automatically be synchronized with the device. Because the customer can be trained how to use MobileFrame they can create edit and maintain applications in house. These updated or new applications can then be instantly deployed and managed to the devices in the field in real time over 3G/Wi-Fi. The next time the user selects the application the updated version will be loaded.
Simple tasks such as changing a logo altering the layout of report print out of a PDF adding a column to a table can all be implemented tested and deployed in a matter of minutes. Compare this to traditional methods and the same change will no longer be a ‘simple’ change.
The key question is: As the business grows and changes, there will need to be updates to the mobile application. What level of cost and downtime is acceptable?
Rugged Tablet PC Improves Decision Making in Motor Racing
In motor sport series around the world teams suppliers and organisers are turning to the T7000 rugged tablet PC to help speed up decision making.
Racing strategy is based on data and all data in motor racing is time critical. Monitoring car performance can mean the difference between a podium finish or catching a potential race ending issue early enough to do something about it.
Our rugged tablet PC products are being used to to collect and distribute critical car performance and equipment data in real-time to speed decision making at the track. Instead of pen and paper or a whiteboard timing and scoring data direct from the tablet provides the pit lane spotter with information to assist the driver throughout practices and on race day. Fuel consumption information allows the team to provide data to the race engineer in real time. Integrated bar code scanners can assist the tyre specialist in organizing race tyres through practice and the weekend.
NASCAR Racing Red Bull Racing Team specialist Mike Motil says, “During one race the tyre wear information literally made the weekend. We pitted after 79 laps. The right front tyre was completely gone. The wear was that extreme. In this instance the T7000 rugged tablet PC provided real-time data that kept the car on the track as long as possible without risking injury to the driver or damage to the vehicle. Watch the Video.
The T7000 offers your motor sport race crew an opportunity to automate data collection before and during a race thus speeding up the sharing of information for quicker decision making. Rugged construction PC grade processing power and ease of use all combine to help save that most precious racing commodity – time!
The T7000 is a tough Ip65 rugged tablet PC built to withstand use outside. It comes with the Intel Atom chipset and Windows 7 operating system as well as Wi-Fi Bluetooth GPS and 3G WWAN and a whole range of accessories to make the it easier to use in the field. Teams can utilise their own desktop/browser apps or choose to use our mobile platform to build a host of applications from inventory control to data input and analysis.
The key point is that great decision making often comes from the availability of swift data and in this respect Motor Sport is no different to any other business. The ability to process data in a manner that does not add time and complexity to the process can give you the edge increase productivity and save money. Try one Free for 10 days and find out how one could help you.
Mobile Application Development Platform Vs Traditional Coding – Timescales
Ever since Mobile Application Development Platforms were introduced software houses and traditional programmers using VB.NET, C# and similar have referred to them as somehow inferior. This couldn’t be further from the truth when using our own mobile application development platform – MobileFrame.
When it comes to mobile application development the enterprise mobility industry has come up with a variety of approaches and many software options. Some approaches require full coding some go halfway reducing the amount required. MobileFrame is a full feature rich platform which requires NO coding. This makes it possible for an organisation undertaking a mobility project to manage the whole process of application design development deployment and management in house.
There is no limitation when creating applications when using MobileFrame. Granted you could create similar applications in C# or another tool but the timescales would be much longer which means increased costs for development and testing.
Typical Proof of Delivery Development Times
Let’s compare MobileFrame against C# and other tools for a simple POD application. The app will integrate with a back-end customer system, pull across customer and parcel details and deploy data to a PDA user. The application will select the job, scan the parcels, ask for a signature and name, capture GPS location, print a receipt send the completed job to over 3G and update the back end customer DB. Using C# this could take 24 weeks or more to churn out using another mobile development platform tool it could take 8 weeks or more. Using MobileFrame we are confident this would take 1-2 weeks including all development testing and deployment.
And the above timescale estimates are only for one target device i.e. a tablet running Windows 7. What happens when the same application is required on a PDA running Windows Mobile? Or accessible via a web browser for remote workers without a dedicated device?
In short the answer for a software house is they would have to start over again minus a few parts as they are different technologies. This could triple the development timescales and blow away any Total Cost of Ownership TCO calculations.
Using our mobile application development platform the same application can have multiple target devices so it is just a case of moving around the layout to fit the screen size. If one application for a Windows 7 tablet PC takes 1-2 weeks, add 1-2 days and you could have the application running on a PDA and a web browser for iOS or Android.
The key question is: having identified a business process that is causing a problem how will your mobile application development options look a few years down the road? Choose a platform that gives you ultimate flexibility or continually use IT budget to make changes?
Successful crop management is a complex blend of the right horticultural expertise soil conditions fertilizers and irrigation methods. The use of mobile data solutions in agriculture is increasing. As mAgriculture grows farmers and agricultural specialists rely more on mobile devices to calculate and store information required in the office and in the field. When equipped with the proper features rugged tablet computers can make the job of crop management easier and more cost-effective and ultimately help farmers maximize their yield. A situation true in every farming region.
Typical uses:
Soil Sampling: Soil samples determine the density of nutrients the presence of harmful toxins and the ability of water and soil to permeate to the roots of crops. Farmers and field personnel can gather soil samples and log pertinent information into rugged tablet PCs on the spot without having to scribble handwritten notes for later data entry. Results can be integrated with existing databases allowing for a complete compilation of soil information throughout an entire region.
Diseases: The spread of disease can devastate an entire crop. Rugged PC data systems allow for rapid analyses of past disease outcroppings, while revealing how much of a given field was impacted by a current blight.
Mapping: Mapping a given stretch of land identifies countless issues important to crop management such as:
Prevalence of weeds in specific areas
Patterns of runoff and water pooling
Effects of weather on the crop yield.
Rugged tablet PCs allow for easy on-site data entry permitting quick creation of viable maps and instant map sharing with relevant team members.
Harvest Data: A rugged computer system can quickly integrate important data from a harvest such as yield of hybrid crops versus earlier strains the effectiveness of new fertilizers and the ability of fallow soil to support crops. After assisting with data analysis a rugged tablet PC will allow multiple people to collaborate on data without losing track of critical information.
Equipment used in the field on a daily basis must be tough and come with accessories that make the device easy to use. Crop management may involve taking soil samples in the winter, when temperatures plunge well below zero or checking water filtration data in the middle of a raging thunderstorm. Mobile devices are often dropped and may be subject to a range of vibrations and unexpected impacts. A high-performance tablet PC need to endure each of these rigors while functioning for hours ensuring that users have access to them at all times.
The two key points for using a Rugged Tablet PC in Agriculture is Durability and the ability to process data in a manner that does not add time and complexity to the process. Try one Free for 10 days and find out how one could help you.
So what are the key benefits of a rugged tablet pc in agriculture ? Most importantly our products all utilise Windows 7 Professional so can operate your standard desktop apps and web browser sessions outside all day. This enables staff to access and record relevant information in the field eliminating the need for paper based capture of data which then has to be re-keyed into another system.
Our most popular product in the sector is the T7000. This unit is IP65 and built for the harsh environments of the agriculture industry. T7000 is designed for durability comes with an outdoor readable screen Bluetooth GPS Wi-Fi and 3G. The unit will withstand the harshest environments including dust, water, rain extreme temperatures and repeated drops.
We also have the accessories to make your Rugged Tablet PC even more productive.
Snap on QWERTY keyboard.
Carry Case.
Desk and Vehicle Docks.
High Capacity Batteries.
In our experience there are a number of key agriculture operations where a device like this can help:
Track animals using RFID and bar code scanning – Watch the Video
Monitor veterinary care.
Control water irrigation flow.
Monitor Seed Trials.
Pin-point the application of fertilizer.
Manure management.
Track growing conditions.
GPS tracking of agriculture vehicles.
One dairy in the US was using RFID tags for cattle tracking but the devices were proving less than satisfactory. This is where MobileDemand came in and provided the farm with a unit that had superior power and flexibility. Read the Box Canyon Dairy case study
We can also build an agriculture application for you to go on your rugged tablet pc. Check out these sample thin client Apps that you can view on your web browser on a smart phone tablet or desktop.
Optimising labour and resources is as important as in any other industry. Key point here is that if the device is to be used literally in the field the unit must be optimised for that enviroment.
IP – what is it? In many discussions to do with IT it’s shorthand for either Intellectual Property or Internet Protocol but in this context it stands for Ingress Protection. These ratings were developed and are maintained by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) and apply to the environmental protection of wide variety of electrical equipment machinery and enclosures. With so many users looking at a rugged tablet pc what are IP ratings?
Ratings usually have two numbers this chart describes both dimensions.
Represents the amount of protection the device has from solid objects or materials.
Indicates the amount of protection from liquids.
Since dust and moisture can wreak havoc with electronics the IP Rating is an important consideration when choosing units for your enterprise mobile project.
Devices designed for the consumer and enterprise markets will have different characteristics to each other as the construction of the case will be designed to a specification to enable a unit to pass at various IP ratings. It is also worth remembering that the IP rating itself is not an observation on the likely performance of a unit in a drop test.
Devices like the iPad and iPhone have ratings of around IP42, although Apple try and steer clear of them unlike rivals Samsung.
Rugged Tablet PC What are IP Ratings? Our popular T8540 with Windows 10 has an IP 67 rating. This means that the unit is completely sealed from solid objects such as dust and sand. It also indicates protection against low pressure jets of water sprayed from a hose nozzle from all directions with very limited ingress permitted. The unit was specifically designed like this with sealed casings and protective covers to stand up to even the harshest everyday conditions including dust, rain, spray and coffee spills ! Although even at MobileWorxs taking one through a car wash might not be something we end up doing every day.
Key point there is that if the device is going to be used in an industrial environment or outdoors where it will be exposed to the elements it is wise to pay particular attention to the IP Rating. Picking something suitable will have a practical bearing on your total cost of ownership TCO calculations. The unit and accessories should match the application and the environmental conditions of the user to ensure that it will stand up to real world use in the field.
We all love it but is the iPad right for enterprise mobility?
Is the Ipad right for enterprise mobility?
The iPad it’s great! Super styling, great app performance, marvellous screen, so simple yet effective. A real icon of industrial design in the 21st century and designed by Brit Jonathan Ive. Apple have shipped 85 million so far.
Beyond social media and games one of the more interesting emerging uses for the iPad is to support dual screen marketing. “Sixty per cent of people say they watch TV and go online concurrently two or three times a week, while 37% claim to do so every day”. So the iPad is being touted very heavily as a real weapon for consumer products companies.
So what do you do if your business application is leading you to use a mobile device and the venue is not on your sofa?
Received wisdom tells us that it if you describe your business environment in any of the following five ways you are more likely to be a potential user for some sort of rugged mobile device rather than one was not built with business “productivity” in mind.
Blue collar
Enterprise
Mobile Worker
Field Service
EMS
Why is this? It comes back to our definition of Enterprise Mobility. There is a world of difference between manager types in an office checking their email vs. a worker on the road performing highly specific tasks. This is reflected in the suitability of a unit to perform a specific task and the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) involved with the acquisition and management of a deployment.
Different releases of hardware over time. Consumer devices typically change every 6-12 months. This can lead to a mix in the installed base as units are replaced which increases support overhead. Locking down an OS and application suite so it is the same for all users all the time is still a lot simpler in an environment where legacy back end systems and staff are all genetically WinTel.
In most cases your Windows based applications will run on a rugged Windows 7 tablet with no modifications.
A consumer device like the iPad will typically be replaced 2-3 times in the lifetime of a rugged device. This is mostly due to damage from being dropped but with the big issue may well be theft.
A rugged device typically has a 3 year return to base warranty. The cost of technical and break fix support will be significantly higher for an iPad. They are not built for high frequency repairs and phone support may well not be tuned into your idea of response to a mission critical problem.
Detailed screen layouts such as picking lists and forms do not so work well with finger touch displays found on devices like the iPad. Pressure triggered stylus technology is far more suited to business applications.
Apps to improve the productivity of a manager are generic and readily available for iOS. Building task specific apps for mobile workers can lead to specific mobile application development.
An iPad is not optimised for installation in a vehicle and does not have an IP rating that would suit many harsh environments.
So the iPad is bad news – not at all. Although there are some amusing scare stories there may indeed be applications in your business where an iPad is exactly the right tool for the job. This is where people contemplating enterprise mobility projects often get befuddled and wrapped up in what new shiny piece of kick ass technology you can be a hero by deploying.
The key question is: what is the nature of the business process that is causing a problem, how will enterprise mobility help and which tool over the lifetime of the project is the right one for the job?
MobileWorxs are accepting and processing orders. Sales service and logistics teams are ready to assist you. Use the chat function to get in touch or send an email to sales@mobileworxs.com. Some products may have extended lead times during this period.
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