Kinetic finished the Vic-Maui International Yacht Race.  We won our class and the race overall.  We sailed against some keen, experienced competitors and the outcome was in doubt until very late in the race.  This year’s race was quite windy and fairly rough, making for some fast, exciting sailing.

Our team of five adults and four teens did a great job of staying focused and working hard for the entire twelve days of the race.  They also kept up a great sense of humor and had a lot of fun!  Contributing significantly to our win was getting the weather and course decisions right; for this, we used an electronics system including instrumentation, communications and navigation equipment, at the center of which was our Panasonic CF-30 Toughbook.  Impossibly reliable!

Regards,

Kinetic.

The editor sent us a list of tests he wanted to put the 31 through, including placing the device in an oven, covering it in ice, dropping it three feet to a hard surface, dropping objects onto the screen and strapping it to an ATV for a little off-roading.

We agreed, suggested a few more extreme tests and waited for the results.

After testing ruggedized laptops from Dell, HP, Lenovo and Panasonic, Inc. selected its “Best Rugged Laptop”. Can you guess who won? The Toughbook 31, of course.

Having brought to market the first reasonably priced, standard form-factor, rugged PC back in 1995, we have a lot of expertise in this mobile computer space. It is, in fact, our only focus. Combining our commitment to quality with a market specific focus results in the development of products that our customers rely on, even in the most demanding of conditions.

To be fair, only the Dell Latitude E6400 XFR was a direct competitor to the fully-rugged Toughbook 31. The HP and Lenovo fall into the business-rugged category.

HP and Lenovo, if you are listening, we’re happy to put our Toughbook C1 or F9 up against any of your business-rugged devices!  How about we test drop and spill resistance – the two most common causes of failure?  We can also compare battery life, weight, ergonomics and performance.  We think we’ll hold up very nicely.  Do you have that same confidence?  You know where to find us.

Please join David and his team on this exciting adventure. We wish them smooth sailing on the path to victory. We look forward to receiving their guest-blog updates throughout the course of the race.

More information on David, KINETIC and the race:

David, skipper of KINETIC, has sailed in a number of long distance and ocean races including two Vic-Maui’s, three Van Isle 360’s and two Sydney Hobart’s. He currently serves as a corporate director and was previously an executive with wireless data leaders Motorola and Sierra Wireless.

KINETIC is a Beneteau First 47.7 and hails out of the Royal Vancouver Yacht Club in Vancouver, Canada. Her sailing program includes inshore and offshore sailboat racing with PHRF, ORC Club and IRC ratings, Pacific Ocean racing and local cruising in the Pacific Northwest. We strive for a well-rounded program: boat preparation, crew teamwork and tactics. Races include Southern Straits, Swiftsure, Vic-Maui, VARC events, Snowflake series and the Van Isle 360.

KINETIC in the 2010 Vic-Maui Race
Sailing for the Royal Vancouver Yacht Club, the third entrant for the 2010 Vic-Maui race is KINETIC, a Beneteau First 47.7. David hails from North Vancouver, BC and the Kinetic team is returning to the Vic-Maui race after participating in the 2004 and 2006 races. Following the 2006 Vic-Maui race, KINETIC sailed onward to Australia, competed in the 2006 Sydney Hobart race and then sailed home, a round trip of over 17,000 nautical miles. Filing KINETIC‘s entry papers early, David comments “This will be our third ocean race to Hawaii and we’re in it for the challenge, adventure and teamwork, and the great parties in Lahaina!”

With a new football season around the corner, the Parking Services Department for Texas Tech University (TTU) faced a serious problem. During the previous season, parking lots surrounding the 52,000-seat Jones AT&T Stadium had been regularly accessed by cars without proper passes, because duplicates were difficult to identify. Complaints from alumni unable to park even with legitimate passes were getting louder.

Much of TTU’s issues could be traced to the limitations of its enforcement officers’ handheld computers. They were difficult to operate, couldn’t be used in the rain, and were easily damaged when dropped. Battery life was short, requiring someone to constantly seek out and replace dead units throughout game days. Without wireless connectivity, there was also no way to track usage in real time.

As the second-largest contiguous university campus in the United States, TTU has 30,000 students and covers more than 1,800 acres. More than a quarter of Parking Services’ $4 million annual revenue is derived from citations, and the university needed reliable technology and rapid information-sharing to ensure it could document each infraction – especially during home football games.

Building a Solution with Versatile Ultra-Mobile PCs
After extensive testing, TTU decided to equip enforcers with the Panasonic Toughbook® U1, an extremely rugged ultra-portable computer with a 5.6” sunlight-viewable screen. With a six-foot drop rating and IP65-certified protection from dust and moisture, the U1 could be counted on to work in any condition.

“We were very impressed with the U1’s rugged capabilities, and the ability to run a full Windows Vista operating system enabled us to quickly develop a custom application for enforcers,” said Stephen Lambert, Manager of Information Systems for TTU Parking Services. “We utilized the U1’s built-in barcode scanner and touchscreen to create an easy-to-use program ensuring every car was accounted for and verified.”

Using the U1’s embedded mobile broadband capabilities and AT&T’s wireless network, TTU set its devices to automatically synch with their servers every five minutes. From a central control room, they were then able to monitor exactly how full each parking lot was as well as  battery life and network status for each U1 being used.

“We had a much more positive response from football fans parking on campus this season, thanks in no small part to the solution we rolled out with the Toughbook U1s,” said Eric Crouch, Managing Director of TTU Parking Services. “We have since deployed U1s to parking enforcers patrolling campus on a year-round basis, and are seeing valuable returns through more efficient and effective processes.”

View the TTU Parking Services U1 case study:

Additional mobile enforcement case studies for the Public Sector can be found here.

In case you are interested in learning more about the embedded Gobi technology, and reading about one of our customers using it, please take a look at my colleague Vicky Obenshain’s recent blog post on this topic.

One of the fun descriptions of our upgraded notebook comes from Engadget. The post titled, “Panasonic Toughbook 19 gets Core i5 grunt to match its grizzled visage,” notes “It’s mounted in the same bomb-poof magnesium case that we know and love…” To view their entire post, please click here.  (It’s safer, though less exciting, than doing your own explosive testing.)

Also, if you have a story to share about our convertible tablet, please submit a comment below. We would love to hear from you.

The Toughbook 31 is the sixth generation of the flagship Toughbook clamshell notebook line.  The new device is distinguished by the fact that it is both the industry’s highest performing and most durable rugged PC. The premier Toughbook 31 features a full power Intel® Core™ i5 processor (entry level models feature the Core i3), and discreet graphics options for users, such as those in military operations, with intense data modeling requirements.

In addition to pushing the boundaries of performance, the Toughbook 31 also offers the brightest standard battery-powered screen ever at 1,100 nits, with more efficient LED displays, and the same long battery life (up to 11.5 hours), people have come to expect from the Toughbook line of mobile computers.

No Compromises
Traditionally, in creating rugged notebooks, engineers have had to make a number of trade-offs in support of reliability, the fundamental requirement for these devices. However, as they always have, Panasonic’s notebook engineers have pushed the boundaries, resulting in the ultimate no-compromise rugged computing solution. The Toughbook 31 delivers all of this power and goes beyond MIL-STD-810G testing to deliver a 6’ drop rating and IP65 protection—protection against streaming liquids and fine dust. In addition to being the highest performing rugged notebook, the Toughbook 31 is without a doubt the most durable.

Taking the Heat
One of the greatest challenges in engineering fully rugged PCs has always been thermal management. Historically, because of their high degree of failure and the resulting increased exposure to dust and moisture, “fan” has been a four letter word for engineers focused on reliability. As a result, truly rugged PCs have been constrained to using lower voltage chipsets. However, Panasonic, in cooperation with its partners at Intel, has been a long-time leader in developing unique approaches to managing heat, using sinks and pipes designed to keep units running cool and CPUs running at their peak.

Thanks to Panasonic’s ongoing commitment to R&D, the Toughbook 31 continues to break performance barriers. In addition to its proven heat management technology, the new Panasonic hybrid cooling system incorporates a fully rugged interior fan that keeps air (and dust, sand, and fluids) moving, allowing for the use of a desktop class processor, like the Core i5. Because Panasonic engineers are 100% focused on reliability and creating fail-safe solutions, they’ve also devised a software solution that, in the unlikely event of a cooling fan failure, the device is programmed to run cooler, stepping down the clock speed. Only Panasonic, with its engineers focused on up-time, is in a position to innovate in this way.

Protecting Investments in the Long Run
Why do Panasonic’s engineers obsess over these things? For two reasons: 1. to continue to deliver the industry’s most reliable PCs, and 2. to ensure a high ROI and lower total cost of ownership for our customers.

To contribute to this, the Toughbook 31 includes multiple future-proof wireless options, including Gobi2000™ chipset from Qualcomm. The 31 is a 4G-ready device designed from the inside-out to enable superior data access and productivity for any mobile professional in mission-critical applications and extreme environments.

In addition, the Toughbook 31 maintains Panasonic’s now eleven year commitment to vehicle dock compatibility, ensuring that this critical and expensive hardware investment is protected over time. It is these kinds of things—based on the ongoing feedback of our customers—that make purchasing mobile computers from Panasonic a solid long-term investment.

According to Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), 90% of weather-related outages are caused by trees hitting power lines, making vegetation management an integral part of any utility’s business. In the last three to four years, FERC has introduced additional regulations; one stating that by 2012, utilities should supply 95% of all customers with absolute, uninterrupted power 99.999% of the time.

These regulations show a need for innovation within the utility sector and a greater call for vegetation management. To address this issue, we partnered on a presentation at DistribuTECH with vegetation management specialist Henry King of ArborMetrics Solutions Company Inc.  ArborMetrics has deployed convertible tablet Toughbook 19s to its mobile workforce which operates in 12 states, often in remote forests locations only accessible on foot.

During our presentation, “Automating Vegetation Management,” we discussed the value of rugged mobile computers to the utility workforce, focusing on how connectivity can provide field employees with the latest work orders and information, thus maximizing worker productivity. Additionally, Henry discussed the challenges and benefits of transitioning his workforce from pen and paper to a wireless mobile computing solution.

The deployment surpassed the company’s goals and has now become a benchmark for other initiatives with parent company, Asplundh Tree Expert Co. Some of these topics are addressed in a video case study we recently developed, which can be found here.

For more insight on our offerings in the Utilities market, click on this link.

Did you attend DistribuTECH? If so, let us know your thoughts below.

Rance Poehler, president of the new B2B-focused company, has committed to building the organization with the input of customers and channel partners. The focus will be on delivering superior mobile computing, media production and display solutions for government, healthcare, education, entertainment and other commercial enterprises.

For the Toughbook team, this means we’re now part of a bigger family of great technology solutions. For more information on our new company, please visit our site at http://www.panasonic.com/business-solutions.

Related Links:
CRN: Panasonic Makes Sweeping Changes To U.S. Operations