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