Are Your Mobile Devices Tough Enough?

We’re going through a radical shift in the way people work and use computers. Increasing availability and affordability of wireless broadband is, for the first time, giving the global workforce true mobility. Many businesses will soon use mobile rugged computers instead of traditional laptops for their everyday computing and communication needs. This shift is drastically changing practices, capabilities and expectations in construction and other industries alike.

 “We live in interesting times,” Robert Kennedy said in 1966. I’m prone to agree, although Bobby and I surely refer to vastly different developments and scenarios. I’m referring to the radical shift we’re now experiencing in the way in which people work and use computers. For the first time in history, it is about true mobility.

With increasing availability and affordability of wireless broadband, people are no longer confined to the traditional office environment. Mobile operators are expanding networks and increasing capacity to handle the explosion of data traffic stemming from the increasing use of smartphones. Soon we will all be connected, everywhere and always.

Rugged, or ruggedized, computers are helping drive this movement to true mobility. As opposed to traditional computers, rugged computers are specifically designed to operate reliably in harsh usage environments and conditions that may involve strong vibrations, extreme temperatures and wet or dusty conditions.

Standard computers are simply not suitable for use in outdoor environments. They have poor battery life and cannot withstand shocks, dust and water. They also break too easily and too often, making the price-benefit ratio inferior to that of rugged computers. Although rugged computers are more expensive to purchase, the total cost of ownership is often much lower—as much as 65 percent lower per year—mainly because their durability minimizes or eliminates the loss of productivity that results from computer breakdowns.

Every day, forward-thinking mobile workers are discovering new and improved ways to apply modern technology in the workforce. They’re finding that work is much simpler and faster with data devices that can collect, sort, synthesize and analyze data and that can work seamlessly with both worksite machinery and advanced office hardware.

Nowhere is this truer than in the construction industry. Rugged mobile technology lets construction businesses, contractors, excavators and others communicate and perform work more easily for faster, better outcomes. This ultimately allows them to provide better products and services for their customers and their communities.

Take, for example, an important excavating job in the community of Joplin, Mo., the site of a devastating May 2011 tornado that destroyed 30 to 40 percent of the town. As the city of Joplin began restoration efforts, a local business, Asbell Excavation, was hired as part of the clean-up crew.

Asbell’s team members were assigned the weighty task of examining approximately 2,000 electric power transformers and containing any oil leaks they found. They knew time was of the essence and that serious environmental damage could result from delays in their process. In order to first identify leaks and then return in a timely manner to clean them up, the crew decided to bring in GPS-enabled rugged tablet computers to help with the job.

Workers set out to identify each spill and record its location using GPS. Equipped with rugged tablet PCs, loaded with a software program that included imported location coordinates, they navigated to each site and made sure oil was removed to landfills and cleaned to EPA standards.

Using ruggedized tablets, the team was able to focus on performing their task as quickly and thoroughly as possible without having to worry that their computers might become damaged in the process. When every second counts, rugged technology often proves its worth the most. As one crew member said, “We could just throw it in the truck and easily bring it along with us as we went from spill to spill.”

Examples such as this demonstrate the benefits of rugged technology where consumer devices do not hold up. The rugged devices were light enough to carry on foot at spill sites, and they held up to the hazardous conditions the crew encountered at ground zero of the disaster.

Traditionally, field workers operating in tough and “naturally mobile” environments such as construction, logistics, geomatics, forestry, public safety and the military have used rugged computers. Now even office workers and garbage collectors and are using rugged computers because they make their work more effective and productive.

There are two main standards for classifying rugged computers:

1. The American military standard for equipment, MIL-STD-810, covers a broad range of environmental conditions that include shocks, rain, dust and sand. The standard comprises 24 laboratory test methods, and generally, the more methods passed, the more rugged the unit.

2. The IP scale rates equipment’s resistance to dust and liquids. Not to be confused with Intellectual Property or IP address, IP in this case stands for “Ingress Protection,” and the ratings are displayed as a two-digit number. The first digit reflects the level of protection against dust, and the second reflects the level of protection against liquids. An IP67-rated unit, for instance, is totally dust-proof and capable of immersion in water for at least 30 minutes to a depth of 1 meter.

As everybody knows, Apple has been hugely successful with the iPhone and iPad. This success has spread into the ruggedized market, where some enterprises that traditionally would have bought rugged devices have opted for iPhones or iPads as their enterprise mobility hardware. Apple’s success with the masses combined with its ability to permeate the ruggedized market has taught everyone that usability is important, that design matters and that the essence of mobility lies in the size and weight of a device.

Manufacturers of rugged equipment are learning these lessons quickly and are launching rugged smartphones and other user-friendly, smartly designed devices. Rugged computers have become much more sophisticated and advanced in the last few years. They now have faster processors to bringing desktop functionality into the field, their batteries can last eight hours on a single charge, many work on any wireless frequency anywhere in the world and they are designed with less weight and improved ergonomics. On the aesthetic side, they also look better, to the point that it has become cool to own a rugged computer.

Design and functionality are two strong reasons rugged computer sales are growing faster than other computer segments. Rugged devices are now much lighter and have better functionality overall, including better displays and improved ergonomic design—all contributing to an improved user experience. New screen technology provides spectacular clarity and brightness in any outdoor condition, even direct sunlight.

Now, as these devices have begun to incorporate some of the features that have made Apple’s products so popular, rugged devices are being adopted by those who may once have opted for an Apple product to fulfill their mobile needs in the field.

The mobile workforce is evolving quickly, and thanks in part to rugged mobile devices, we can look forward to a future of connectedness, both in the office and out. The flexibility and durability that rugged computers provide will be a transforming influence on the workforce of tomorrow, as construction business owners are increasingly able to manage projects at a desk and perform onsite job duties, all with the same technology.