2 local firms are players in niche market of rugged laptops

Heather Walton/The Arizona Republic

Rheta Victor inputs information into the rugged computer on her forklift. The computer has a special screen that can withstand exposure to rain, heat, dust and other harsh elements.

Jane Larson
The Arizona Republic
Apr. 4, 2003 12:00 AM

They go where no ordinary laptop computer would dare: into the dust stirred by mining trucks, the jolts of riding forklifts across warehouse floors, the low temperatures of operating in brewery coolers.

So-called rugged computers, essentially toughened laptops, constitute a small but growing niche in the computer world. The devices are gaining extra prominence these days for their use in the war in Iraq.

"Places where you don't think of computers belonging is where we see ourselves," said Bob Lyons, vice president of business development for one maker, Digital Systems Engineering in Scottsdale.

There are about 20 markets for rugged computers, ranging from the maritime industry and public safety to utilities, mines and the military, said Todd Einck, president of Chandler-based JLT Mobile Computers. The two Valley companies are seeing demand grow from areas such as warehouses and factories.

Companies like the rugged computers because they allow workers in the field to instantly update or share information. These computers are showing up in new areas such as homeland security, golf courses, farm machinery, airliners and oil rigs.

Rugged computers are generally designed to withstand far more than clumsy consumers. They started in the military, but were slow to expand to private industry because components available for the mass market were not tough enough, Einck said.

Over the years, technology has evolved to help make rugged computers possible. For example:

Circuit boards have grown smaller and more powerful, allowing for fewer parts to jiggle loose.

Connectors and cables are fewer and stronger.

Storage drives have evolved from rotating drives to flash and solid-state.

Cases are precision-milled of aluminum, magnesium alloy or other metals.

Alternatives to fans help dissipate heat without sucking in dust, and new kinds of lamps help computers warm up slowly in sub-freezing temperatures.

The special features come at a price, though. Rugged computers cost $2,000 to $15,000 each, depending on the configuration, screen and size. Each market has different requirements, so companies tend to specialize accordingly.

Arizona Public Service had specific criteria when it went hunting for rugged computers for its north Phoenix warehouse and equipment yard four years ago, material coordinator Arlen Scorse said. The utility needed computers that were readable in sunlight, operated with a touch screen, and could withstand the bumps of a forklift along with the heat, dust and rain that come with outdoor use.

Standard laptops didn't last, leaving the warehouse's wireless network idling.

"We couldn't use it fully because we couldn't find a computer that would stand up to being outside most of the time and mounted to a forklift," Scorse said.

It bought its current computers from JLT, which Einck started in 1998 to sell computers designed and made by Sweden's JLTeknik for the timber industry. The Chandler company configures systems, loads operating systems and handles service and repair for the Swedish firm's products.

Einck projects sales for his four-employee firm will triple this year, to $12 million from $4 million.

Sales have also increased at Digital Systems Engineering, which in 1994 switched from making large commercial workstations to engineering and manufacturing harsh-duty computers. Lyons said revenue at the 10-employee company was flat last year, but it expects sales this year to return to the 40 percent annual growth rate of previous years.

Both companies say the industry is filled with niche players, although there is one big brand name - Panasonic Toughbook. Panasonic, the New Jersey-based division of Japanese electronics giant Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd., debuted its first rugged computer in 1996, and has since developed an entire family of notebooks and more specialized models for mounting in police cars or use as hand-held terminals.

Panasonic ships about 100,000 Toughbooks a year, mainly to law enforcement agencies and utilities, and has about 25,000 of them in use in Iraq, spokesman Jeff Ayers said. U.S. sales of Toughbooks totaled $350 million last year, he said.

Personal-computer analyst Alan Promisel of research firm IDC estimates that Panasonic controls 75 percent of the market, due at least in part to its success in marketing its semi-rugged notebook computers to businesspeople who travel extensively.

Demand for rugged computers is increasing, he said, as their use in the Iraq war gets attention and as prices come down. "They're still dwarfed by traditional notebooks, but it is obvious the demand is out there," he said.

Reach the reporter at jane.larson@arizonarepublic.com or (602) 444-8280.

2 local firms are players in niche market of rugged laptops

Heather Walton/The Arizona Republic

Rheta Victor inputs information into the rugged computer on her forklift. The computer has a special screen that can withstand exposure to rain, heat, dust and other harsh elements.

Jane Larson The Arizona Republic Apr. 4, 2003 12:00 AM

They go where no ordinary laptop computer would dare: into the dust stirred by mining trucks, the jolts of riding forklifts across warehouse floors, the low temperatures of operating in brewery coolers.

So-called rugged computers, essentially toughened laptops, constitute a small but growing niche in the computer world. The devices are gaining extra prominence these days for their use in the war in Iraq.

"Places where you don't think of computers belonging is where we see ourselves," said Bob Lyons, vice president of business development for one maker, Digital Systems Engineering in Scottsdale.

There are about 20 markets for rugged computers, ranging from the maritime industry and public safety to utilities, mines and the military, said Todd Einck, president of Chandler-based JLT Mobile Computers. The two Valley companies are seeing demand grow from areas such as warehouses and factories.

Companies like the rugged computers because they allow workers in the field to instantly update or share information. These computers are showing up in new areas such as homeland security, golf courses, farm machinery, airliners and oil rigs.

Rugged computers are generally designed to withstand far more than clumsy consumers. They started in the military, but were slow to expand to private industry because components available for the mass market were not tough enough, Einck said.

Over the years, technology has evolved to help make rugged computers possible. For example:

Circuit boards have grown smaller and more powerful, allowing for fewer parts to jiggle loose.

Connectors and cables are fewer and stronger.

Storage drives have evolved from rotating drives to flash and solid-state.

Cases are precision-milled of aluminum, magnesium alloy or other metals.

Alternatives to fans help dissipate heat without sucking in dust, and new kinds of lamps help computers warm up slowly in sub-freezing temperatures.

The special features come at a price, though. Rugged computers cost $2,000 to $15,000 each, depending on the configuration, screen and size. Each market has different requirements, so companies tend to specialize accordingly.

Arizona Public Service had specific criteria when it went hunting for rugged computers for its north Phoenix warehouse and equipment yard four years ago, material coordinator Arlen Scorse said. The utility needed computers that were readable in sunlight, operated with a touch screen, and could withstand the bumps of a forklift along with the heat, dust and rain that come with outdoor use.

Standard laptops didn't last, leaving the warehouse's wireless network idling.

"We couldn't use it fully because we couldn't find a computer that would stand up to being outside most of the time and mounted to a forklift," Scorse said.

It bought its current computers from JLT, which Einck started in 1998 to sell computers designed and made by Sweden's JLTeknik for the timber industry. The Chandler company configures systems, loads operating systems and handles service and repair for the Swedish firm's products.

Einck projects sales for his four-employee firm will triple this year, to $12 million from $4 million.

Sales have also increased at Digital Systems Engineering, which in 1994 switched from making large commercial workstations to engineering and manufacturing harsh-duty computers. Lyons said revenue at the 10-employee company was flat last year, but it expects sales this year to return to the 40 percent annual growth rate of previous years.

Both companies say the industry is filled with niche players, although there is one big brand name - Panasonic Toughbook. Panasonic, the New Jersey-based division of Japanese electronics giant Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd., debuted its first rugged computer in 1996, and has since developed an entire family of notebooks and more specialized models for mounting in police cars or use as hand-held terminals.

Panasonic ships about 100,000 Toughbooks a year, mainly to law enforcement agencies and utilities, and has about 25,000 of them in use in Iraq, spokesman Jeff Ayers said. U.S. sales of Toughbooks totaled $350 million last year, he said.

Personal-computer analyst Alan Promisel of research firm IDC estimates that Panasonic controls 75 percent of the market, due at least in part to its success in marketing its semi-rugged notebook computers to businesspeople who travel extensively.

Demand for rugged computers is increasing, he said, as their use in the Iraq war gets attention and as prices come down. "They're still dwarfed by traditional notebooks, but it is obvious the demand is out there," he said.

Reach the reporter at jane.larson@arizonarepublic.com or (602) 444-8280.