Enterprises wrestle over the increased cost of rugged computing devices. Intuitively, they must know that deploying commercial-grade laptops in field service applications, for instance, will lead to increased downtime and support issues. And, in fact, it does. The most recent research by Venture Development Corporation goes a long way toward alleviating the sticker shock that many enterprises feel as they compare price tags of rugged and nonrugged computers. Over a five-year period, VDC's research finds that despite the disparity in price tags, the total cost of ownership of rugged laptops and PDAs is significantly less than commercial-grade units. According to VDC, the annual failure rate for commercial-grade laptops is about 30 percent, while rugged laptops experience an annual failure rate of just 9 percent. Additionally, there's a big difference in wireless connectivity between the two types of units, with research finding that wireless transmission failures are three times more frequent in nonrugged devices. This leads to downtime and employee frustration.
Source: Integrated Solutions, http://integratedsolutionsmag.com