October 25, 2001

Rugged computers stand up to tough working conditions

Photo courtesy of Itronix “Ruggedized” computers — at around $6,000 a pop — are encased in high-grade magnesium and are designed to function while exposed to heavy dust, gas or moisture. Itronix’s GoBook MAX continues to function even after being dropped more than 50 times from three feet.

SPOKANE — Drop one of these expensive notebook computers and keep your job. Take them out in driving rain or desert sun and you can still surf the Web from the Antarctic.

Some are even dishwasher safe.

They’re so-called “ruggedized” computers, which represent only a small portion of the overall PC market, but could be gaining popularity with companies whose employees travel often, checking laptops as baggage or passing them through airport X-ray machines, according to Rob Enderle, an analyst with Giga Information Group.

Itronix, a Spokane-based company that is a leading maker of solid-state computers for use in hostile environments, has even shipped a score of its rugged notebook PCs to New York for emergency workers to use at Ground Zero after the Sept. 11 hijacking attacks.

“They’re often outside more than they’re inside. They have to be far more robust than your normal laptop,” said Enderle.

"A nonruggedized PC would last us about a week." --Steve Smith, BellSouth

Itronix is among a handful of companies that make rugged computers for industry, emergency services agencies and the military. The only really prohibitive factor for companies is their cost, at around $6,000.

Following the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center buildings in New York, the need was demonstrated for rugged, waterproof and shockproof laptops with wireless capabilities.

Itronix recently donated 10 rugged laptops to the New York City Office of Emergency Management. Another 10 were given to the Federal Emergency Management Administration.

“A nonruggedized PC would last us about a week,” said Steve Smith, who manages BellSouth’s program that equips 15,600 technicians with rugged computers for onsite use. “We have technicians that have had these in daily use for over three years.”

Rugged computers, usually clad in magnesium or titanium to resist vibration, dust, water and extreme temperatures, are designed to operate in harsh conditions.

Fully rugged, or so-called ultra-rugged models perform in the most hostile environments and meet military specifications for battlefield use. The 6-pound laptops are targeted for field applications for commercial and industrial customers.

“Our focus is always on mission-critical uses,” Itronix senior product manager Wally Starr said.

Target customers come from the telecommunications and utilities industries, state and local government emergency service agencies and the military.

Encased in high-grade magnesium, the laptops are designed to function while exposed to heavy dust, gas, or moisture. They are also equipped with wireless modems that allow users to quickly exchange data with a central database or other users.

Itronix recently rolled out what it calls its ultra-rugged GoBook MAX, which has been tested to operate from minus-67 to 167 degrees Fahrenheit and continues to function even after being dropped more than 50 times from three feet.

“We have no aspirations of trying to take on Dell and other computer makers. In fact, we partner with them regularly,” Itronix President and Chief Executive Officer David C. Dayton said.

Unlike their comparatively scrawny commercial cousins, rugged computers are designed to stand up to rough use. Itronix salespeople will frequently run them through a dishwasher to demonstrate their ability to function while wet.

They are being purchased in the thousands by companies that want to equip workers in the field with virtually indestructible mobile computers with wireless communications capability.

Police departments are mounting them in patrol cars and the U.S. Coast Guard tested them under salt spray in its 41-foot open buoy tenders.

Sears has equipped its fleet of 12,000 field technicians with the original Itronix rugged model, the 6250-Pro.

BellSouth has ordered more than 17,000, including a number of the newer GoBook MAX models. They are fitted into docking stations inside technicians’ vans and can be removed for communicating — and even billing — from the job site.

“We expect them to last forever,” BellSouth’s Smith said from his Atlanta office. “We have a good maintenance agreement, so we’re not sure how long they will last.”

Smith tells of one technician who left a rugged computer on the back of his truck before driving off. A customer later found the notebook computer on the parking lot and mailed it back to BellSouth.

“The PC was actually cracked. But I turned it on and it worked,” Smith said. “I sent it back to the technician.”

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