More and more, consumer tablets are finding their way into the enterprise. This creates the demand for access to applications and data as well as significant issues for system administrators. It becomes increasingly difficult to support devices that do not adhere to the standards-based operating systems (OS) used throughout many enterprises. Additionally, in larger corporate environments, the testing and utilization of desktop management tools can be time-consuming and costly as the process involves many different disciplines, such as applications, desktop support, security, network management and loss prevention, not to mention end-user training.
This creates a challenge for most system administrators because of the inherent security and management issues that come with non-standard OS devices. This is not to say that these problems are unsolvable in the long run; however, using devices that run a standards-based OS, and thus existing enterprise solutions, is far more attractive to the already overtaxed networking and desktop support staff.
Many enterprises have existing tools in place for Windows devices because it is still the default OS for the majority of enterprise networks. Systems administrators can confidently secure, manage, deploy and support end users while providing access to the virtual applications that they need in order to get the job done.
While right now it looks like Windows devices are still the best fit for enterprises, it will be interesting to see if and how this may change as the tablet industry continues to develop.
Dave Mackie
Director of Mobility Services
Motion Computing
I am pleased to announce that we are now shipping the first ultra-light and rugged tablet PC – the CL900! The first shipments include customers and partners in Australia, New Zealand, Belgium, France, Germany and the United States, representing industries across Motion’s target markets including retail, field service, construction and healthcare.
For those of you who are familiar with the process of bringing a product to market, I’m sure you can understand how exciting today is for the entire company. We first began developing the CL900 in early 2011. We wanted to provide our customers with a small form factor, rugged tablet PC with both touch and stylus input that maintained Motion’s high standard of power, battery life and durability. With these factors in mind, we created the 2.1 lbs. CL900 with a 10.1-inch display, running Windows 7 and powered by Intel’s latest Atom Processor, the Z670 Series. Being a Motion product, it was essential that the CL900 come with Corning Gorilla Glass and pass MIL-STD-810G and IP52 testing (check out the drop test video). You can check out the press release for additional product details.
We were very excited to announce the CL900 at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) this past January, and we received very positive feedback from media, analysts, partners and customers alike. According to Boy Genius Report’s Zach Epstein, over 100 tablets were announced at the show. As you can see, not only did we go up against some very stiff competition, but we were also the first ultra-light, rugged tablet PC to ship! Many of the tablets unveiled at the show never even came to fruition.
I want to congratulate and thank Motion’s employees for their continuous work on and support of the CL900 from the initial concept all the way through first customer ship.
Mike Stinson
VP Marketing
Motion Computing