| Durability and ruggednessDo you need a terminal | | | | of ownership |
| which willbe used in harsh environments and which | | | | (TCO) has been designed to properly state the |
| should be capable of withstandingbeing dropped? | | | | costs of an IT investment. |
| Does the mobile computer need to be sealed and | | | | When evaluating your mobile workforce |
| IP-rated? | | | | automation project, conducting acomplete TCO |
| Ruggedised hand-held mobile computers are | | | | analysis will show the hidden costs inherent in |
| available with IP ratingsstarting from IP54 (sealed | | | | selecting alow-cost, non-enterprise class device. It |
| against wind blown rain and dust).Why Rugged | | | | will also demonstrate how anindustrial mobile |
| "they seem to cost more" !As companies make | | | | computing solution designed for everyday |
| decisions on IT investments,one of the chief, and | | | | mobileenvironments prove to have value beyond |
| seemingly simple questions, is how much does | | | | durability.To begin, enterprisesthat use low-cost |
| itcost? How do you differentiate the features and | | | | non-rugged mobile computers pay a high price in |
| resulting value derivedfrom various vendor | | | | repairs,increased support needs and lost |
| offerings? How do you assess the cost of | | | | productivity. These costs exceed anypurchase |
| deploying andsustaining these products in a mobile | | | | price savings within just two years according to |
| enterprise environment? Most of thetime, it is | | | | an important |
| easy to calculate the purchase price of the | | | | 2004 study by Venture Development Corporation |
| hardware andlicense fees. However when the | | | | (VDC). Over the life of thesystem, down time |
| initial cost analysis is complete,companies often | | | | typically costs enterprises that use |
| find themselves wondering why, even after | | | | non-ruggedcomputers approximately four to five |
| successfulproject implementations, their IT | | | | times more than the purchase price ofthe |
| operations, support and softwaremaintenance | | | | devices.Devils advocate....Although PDA devices |
| costs keep going up. Many hidden and ongoing | | | | can still make senseand TCO is great although a |
| costs are notfactored in when a project is | | | | small real world pilot still gives the bestindication on |
| originally evaluated.Because this scenariois all too | | | | suitable device!!!!! |
| common, a methodology for assessing total cost | | | | |