many of which have been underlined by ourselves as well as by our respected colleagues in the ruggedness device world. I’m sure you’ve seen the list before, but just to jog your memory:

 

1.   Failure rate of non-rugged devices are 100% more likely to break down compared to a rugged device

 

2.   Total Cost of Ownership (TCO): Over a lifespan of 5 years a consumer device can cost you over 50% more* of a rugged device investment as you’ll likely have to replace the consumer device 2-3 times in this period, not even taking into account the working time which was lost caused by the failures.

 

3.   Connectivity: Consumer devices are designed to look sleek and are therefore not fit to have enterprise I/O’s on board, such as an Ethernet connector, dedicated Bar code Scanner, COM-port or full-size USB ports allowing you to easily interact with printers, flash drives, keyboards, pin-pads, industrial networks and many more.

 

4.Apart from these (obvious) ones, there is a “hidden” feature that came to my attention by talking to numerous end-users; “Theft-proof”: As mentioned before, consumer devices are designed to look sleek and shiny; exactly the sort of things thieves are after…Rugged devices are not so hot among thieves as these prove not to be quick-sellers. Next to that, our RTC Android 5.1 and Windows 10 IOT Enterprise devices do not have Google Play Store or Windows Store on them. This means, even if the thief can get over the fact it does not look so sexy, the lack of “gaming/social media potential” will do the trick, leaving the device where it should be: At the job site. I am sure your company does not knowingly employ or does business with people who steal, but better safe than sorry…