Rugged Mobile Hand Held Computing

Two Tech: Rugged individualism

2011-10-25T11:50:00.000-04:00

AVNET Express came to visit Two Technologies on their Drive For Innovation tour. Check out the link below to read the article and watch the video!

http://www.driveforinnovation.com/two-tech-rugged-individualism

Two Technologies; The Ultra Rugged Handheld Manufacturer

2011-06-22T08:47:00.009-04:00

Two Technologies HANDGEAR and Hydrus handheld computer products are the most Ultra-Rugged devices on the market today.

Rugged handheld computers have been on the market for a long time. It’s hard to find a handheld company, or even a smart phone provider today that does not claim that their product is “rugged”.

Rugged is easy. (OK, this is coming from a company who has made rugged products for over 24 years…)

Rugged for an increasing number of outdoor applications is not enough.

For those applications, companies turn to Two Technologies Ultra-Rugged Computers (TTURC).

TTURC is the culmination of nearly a quarter century of engineering development and field experience with over one million products in use around the world.

TTURC extends existing international test standards in specifications and adds operational standards based upon those of real-world applications.

To be a TTURC product means the following:

Ability to survive and operate after being submerged in water at least three feet deep for at least an hour. Rain and drizzle (IPx4 and IPx5) or a fast garden hose (IPx6) are just not real-world tests! TTURC products exceed IP67 testing.

Twenty-six drops, of the same unit, onto concrete/steel (every face, edge, and corner) from at least four feet and operate completely after each drop. While this is based on MIL-STD-810G (and would pass it) it actually is a much tougher and more real world evaluation.

Withstand fine dust and dirt particles without failure. Keyboards, speakers, microphones, doors, and touch panels must all be able to withstand operation in fine desert and the worst river mud without degrading performance or functionality. Units rated at IP5x are not able to pass this test. For TTURC it requires at least IP6x ratings.

Operate in direct sun at the operating temperature of +50 degrees Celsius. This test takes into account the heat added by direct sunlight on the case and peripherals.

Operate for at least 20 hours at the minimum operating temperature of -20 degrees Celsius. This test takes into account the common effect that extreme cold has on battery technology. Ultra battery capacity is mandatory.

Direct sunlight readable display without the need of any backlight. The outdoors is where TTURC design shines. Operational means legible display graphics, long battery life and high temperature tolerance. By not using the backlight in direct sun this both increases the battery life and lowers the self heating of the unit due to battery discharge; ultimately accomplishing both requirements.

Keyboards that last a minimum of 1 million keystrokes per key. Key entry is critical to outdoor field computer operation. TTURC keys are tested to operate for at least 1 million keystrokes without failure. A broken key means a broken unit and in the field this can mean tens of thousands of dollars of lost revenue.

Real outdoor operation of computers often means the user must wear gloves. TTURC devices are designed to allow the operator to leave their gloves on while using the computers. Keyboards and touch screens both operate efficiently and correctly with a gloved hand.

This is just a small sampling of Two Technologies Ultra-Rugged Computers as a product standard. We are continually evaluating our products and improving them to increasing the value of Ultra-Rugged technology to our customers.

We are so confident that our TTURC products are the best handhelds available today that we are increasing our standard warranty on newly purchased units to a full three years.

By Eric Eckstein, President and COO, Two Technologies, Inc.

SNOWTEAM is formed within Two Technologies!

2010-12-15T10:16:00.000-05:00

Two Technologies hits the road with Thinking Inside the Box TechTalks!

2010-11-17T09:25:00.004-05:00

Two Technologies is hitting the road with informative 2T TechTalks. Learn more about how HANDGEAR® can benefit your application, in a casual environment geared towards the Public Safety, Field Service or Parking Enforcement industries. Fill out the TechTalk form and let them know you are ready to "think inside the box."

Click here to learn more about Two Technologies "Thinking Inside the Box" TechTalks!

Check out the new HANDGEAR rugged mobile computer

2010-11-02T14:29:00.000-04:00

Introducing HANDGEAR: the only integrated solution: scan fingerprints, swipe cards, print on-the-spot...all with one rugged handheld.

Expressing the Application…

2010-08-24T09:01:00.011-04:00

by: Eric Eckstein

The Microsoft® Embedded OS strategy refinement continues with the release of some new clarifying information. CEO Steve Ballmer, made an announcement “reaffirming” Microsoft’s commitment to the “specialized devices” market which sets a revised direction by adding a “new” product based upon Mobile 6.5 (in six months) to be called Windows® Enterprise Handheld (still based upon Windows CE 5 technology with its process and other limitations). A year after that, Microsoft will release a new OS based upon Windows 7 Handheld which will be based upon CE 6 R3 (which is available now).

For the enterprise specialty device market (Microsoft’s term for what is basically a bar-code driven semi-rugged handheld computer), this is largely a clarification and an acknowledgment that Mobile OS software needs a path forward. That’s good for those who sold into that market and have solutions currently. It will give them time to migrate those applications to the CE6 underlying model and begin to utilize the newer Silverlight® and Expression Blend® APIs to update their applications.

Of note is that Microsoft has finally done their interpretation of a direct comparison of CE and Mobile. Of interest is that a key feature of Mobile is claimed to be “Portability across devices”. This is really interesting in that Mobile applications have never really been truly “portable” the way desktop applications are due to the nature of the required specific peripherals such as bar-code readers, RFID, cameras, GPS systems or other “specialty” sensors for the “specialty device market”. This has not been a large issue as almost all application solutions are routinely customized for the specific manufacturer’s handheld device anyway whether it is Windows Mobile® or Windows CE (largely a choice of user interfaces).

The real question is why we, as developers and marketers in the specialized handheld device market are focusing on the OS user interface in the first place? The OS GUI paradigm is required for a general purpose computer, especially things like laptops and desktops. However the most successful “specialized” devices in the world all suppress the OS (even though they have one) and focus on the specific application they are intended to perform (think the Apple® iPod® for example).

I like to call this development paradigm “Expressing the Application and Suppressing the Computer” or E&S. E&S focuses on the end-user having the knowledge and experience to perform their job, and frankly not caring or being concerned about the computer portion of the handheld computer. Granted, some markets require access to the OS, such as “PDA” or the newer Smart Phones, which do require that the user/operator be able to use the OS to switch applications, transfer files, do housekeeping chores, etc. since their main purpose is to be a general computing device. But the vast majority of solutions in the “specialized devices” market do one application and one application only (by design and intent) on any given device… So why expose the all-purpose OS to the end-user?

The benefits of EA&SC are all focused on the application solution and end-user operation. EA&SC provides for very low training and deployment costs by only exposing to the operator both in the “specialized” hardware and the design of software tasks and the information required for the job function they are performing. This focus also clearly follows through to lower technical support costs. The more dedicated (in Microsoft terms “specialized”) the handheld device is to help personnel out with a given process or job function, the more likely they are to adopt and utilize it in an efficient manner thereby also lowering the initial resistance many users have to newer technology and systems.

In the longer term view of the solution, E&S also improves the payback to the stakeholders who finance the IT investment. It does this by forcing the justification and payback to be based primarily on the handheld solution improving the performance and quality of the specific business process it was intended for, not on subsequent add-ons and “best practice” metrics which never seem to materialize.

E&S is not new. Application specific (OK, specialized) handheld devices have been improving business practices for decades. An excellent example would be the UPS DIAD series which stands for the Delivery Information Acquisition Device and was developed and deployed by UPS. The DIAD has been quite successful for UPS and they consider it the integral part to their deliver process system. The current field release of the line, the DIAD IV, does not look or act like a typical PDA or enterprise handheld computer at all, because it was not meant to be… The DIAD, while based on CE, did not expose the OS at all to the operator, because the operator’s job is not to care for a computer, but to perform their daily delivery tasks efficiently to deliver our products on time.

Thoughts? Comments? It would be a pleasure to gain your insight. Scroll down to leave a comment, reach me a 2e@2t.com or join us on Facebook.

Author: Eric Eckstein, President and COO, Two Technologies, Inc.
Learn more about Two Technologies rugged handheld computers at http://www.2t.com/

OS Choices for Handheld Computers

2010-06-04T08:45:00.007-04:00

June 4, 2010

One of the fundamental considerations when designing a rugged mobile computing solution is the choice of the handheld computer’s operating system. To be sure, there are many choices available in today’s market, but the choices can be quickly whittled down with some basic questions about what solution you are trying to deliver to your customer and a fundamental knowledge of the features and roadmaps of the operating systems themselves.

What are the OS choices and where did they come from?
As we all know, the smartphone market has really exploded, and continues to expand with Android® being released last year and iPhone® and Blackberry® still leading the way with increasing market share of the consumer and enterprise markets respectively. One might think that the Operating System solutions for handhelds are a relatively new thing, but this is not the case. Those of you with a penchant for technology history will remember the 1993 Apple Newton® as the first PDA. In fact it was Apple’s then CEO John Scully who fashioned the term “Personal Digital Assistant”. The PDA soon became ubiquitous with Palm (recently purchased by HP®), HP, Psion®, IBM® and many others getting into the market through the 90’s and into the mid 2000’s. RIM entered the market with a two way pager device in 1996, but the now famous email and voice platform, Blackberry, was released in 2002.
Microsoft® entered the handheld OS market with Windows® CE in 1996 and then added a consumer layer to CE with Pocket PC® in 2000. This year, Microsoft announced a new consumer mobile OS, Windows Phone 7 Series (based upon CE 6.0 R3) being released for the holiday season and more directly competing with the likes of iPhone® and Android®.
An early mobile Operating System, not really for a smartphone at the time, was EPOC which later become Symbian® with a partnership of Psion and several mobile phone handheld manufacturers. Nokia® now owns the technology and has made it an open source license as of this year.

Of course the newcomer on the block is Android, an open source platform based upon the Linux® v2.6 core and developed by Open Handset Alliance and led by Google®. Android has rapidly taken market share, mostly from Microsoft, since being released in 2008.
View a summary of a selection of Handheld Computer Operating Systems on the market today: http://www.2t.com/eric/microsoft_mobile_two_technologies_rugged_handheld.htm

By far, the largest target market for Operating Systems is the consumer smartphone business. There were over 54.5 million units manufactured in Q1 of 2010. The largest player is still Nokia, with RIM, Apple, HTC and Motorola forming the top of the market.

How do you select an OS for development?
Many criteria exist for the choice of an OS on a handheld. The ones that I cover here are focused on the use of the handheld as part of the entire system that an end-user will utilize.
Are you delivering a solution or an application?

The first and primary question to ask is if your product is a solution and by solution I mean is the software/hardware product that you will provide being used throughout an end-users workday as the means by which they accomplish their tasks. If the end-user will only use your product periodically, such as looking up inventory or checking the status of an order, and the rest of the time the main use of the hardware is as a phone, calendar, and contacts, then this is an application.

If your focus is on the application, then you really should consider consumer level products such as Android, iPhone, Blackberry, Windows Phone Classic/7 Series and the like. There may be some exceptions (see the rest of the questions below) which may drive you more toward another environment, but by and large these systems will deliver the required robustness and overall usefulness as a tool for the end-user. Your support will primarily be for your application and the carrier will most likely provide the needed phone/email support.

However, if your focus is as a solution, you definitely should read on and consider the rest of the system…

Are there special peripherals that must be used?
The second question to resolve is, does the user require any data collection, communications systems or maybe special imaging solutions that “regular” hardware does not provide? Peripherals such as bar-code scanners, RFID readers, custom radios, sensors, biometric readers, mag-stripe readers, true digital still cameras, and precision GPS systems are not available from consumer hardware providers and even “gluing them on” can be difficult and unreliable.
Typically, if you are looking to integrate a “special” peripheral, an industrial OS such as Windows CE is your best bet; the drivers and system integration can be tightly coupled to the Operating System. In most cases the Operating System is extended by the hardware provider to take special advantage of the peripherals key features.

Do you/your customers require a long product life?
IT investment is not cheap at the onset, and typically the deployment costs such as training, support and setup can be largest dollar cost item of a project. So, given that, it is important to understand and manage the field disruption and cost due to obsolescence or OS “upgrades” which may cause issue with your solution.

In general, consumer phone Operating Systems are controlled by the carrier, which means that your application and contingent support are at the mercy of their OS update schedule and content. These Operating Systems are also routinely and rapidly updated to take advantage of new features and services (or issues). Generally this is not always an issue with your application running on the “new” OS, but when it is you may very well be limited to the actions you can take. An OS roll-back is not always practical (or available), so that leaves you having your engineers scramble to develop a work-around/fix “right now”.

These types of issues can usually be mitigated by using Windows CE or even Linux derived OS products which hardware manufacturers can “lockdown” to a specific revision level once your application solution is developed. In many cases CE is almost ideal as Microsoft defines the basic standard, but provides the hardware companies with vast amounts of source code to allow them to support/improve and debug the OS.

When dealing with a proprietary OS you really are under the control of the manufacturer. Should their business be purchased (PALM) then you hope that someone will continue supporting (and selling) those devices.

Open Source generally will not have an issue with long life as the source code is open to compilation as long as compilers are available (forever in practical terms). Who created your OS, and its sustainability in terms of support and security are another, more complicated issue, which is being grappled with by many markets in general.

What about security?
This is a key subject on most people’s minds (and fundamental in some), from end-users, through to IT departments and developers. There is no such thing as a “totally” secure system, but generally speaking , the more restricted that access is to that system, the less likely that a security threat can enter.

The perennial Windows Mobile (aka Phone Classic) and Symbian are prime examples of consumer Operating Systems which have the target of viruses, malware and security issues almost since their inception. It is the nature of their “openness” and freely available connected systems which allow for this to happen.

Of interest is Android, iPhone and webOS which have had very few reports of security issues. Generally this is due to the nature of the OS and the delivery/update methods employed.
Lastly there is Windows CE. Since CE is the basis for Windows Mobile/Phone, you would logically think it would be as susceptible to viruses, and you would be right in terms of the technical nature of the product. However in the systemic scope of the deployed product, CE solutions are usually much more focused on an application and thereby do not have an “all user access” component to their features. Also CE hardware manufacturers have the ability to lock-down the OS in a form by which it cannot be tampered with and is easily verified as to its “uniqueness”, which makes it VERY difficult to embed a virus.

Who will be providing support to the end-users?This question really goes back to the original solution/application discussion. If you are providing a product which is an application only and the hardware really has other “general purpose” features which the user will routinely (or mostly) use, then those applications/features need a support/update/maintenance system which can leverage very general knowledge… A consumer OS will be a great choice to consider.

On the other hand, when you are delivering a solution, the support staff really needs to be focused on that end-user getting that job performed in an efficient and reliable manner. Phone, email and “general purpose” applications/uses will not be the primary (or in many cases allowed) feature of the product. In that case a more customizable OS, such as CE or Linux can provide a great platform.

What if the mobile application is just one part of my solution?In many, if not most, products the mobile component is just one part of a whole range of IT “views” into the whole solution. There other views may be a web portal, a desktop application even a TV application (think xBOX® or Playstation® type interfaces). Your development likely will need to leverage known development environments, APIs and toolsets throughout the product’s offerings to minimize the diversity of skills required and lower the risk and time of knowledge acquisition. Time to market (with a quality product) is everything.
Traditionally mobile applications were “on there own” meaning that the OS and the hardware were so limited that it really required a special skill set and experience to program for it. While that is still the case with some environments (Symbian, Android and iPhone come to mind), others have really opened up.

Microsoft has integrated the .NET and Silverlight® platforms across the entire development environment from Desktop and Server through to the Windows Phone 7 Series and Windows CE. This is means that while developers still need to understand their “views” audience and scope of hardware “portal features” they no longer need to be totally retrained or be total “specialists” in each area.

Java also has long promised “platform independent” development. By and large it also meets this requirement with the Java™ Runtime Environment (JRE) being ported to most operating systems. The issue to resolve is generally the lack of hardware manufacturer support for Java. Even the Android SDK, while using a Java like syntax and structure, really is its own language and system.

Conclusions?
I think you’ll agree that no one Operating System solves everyone’s problems or concerns. In general, there are even more factors to consider that are specific to your solution and business.
If you are developing a product with specific peripherals and the requirement for a long product life, the solution is pretty straight forward with Windows CE.
However, if your product is an application that really only uses a keyboard (or touch screen) with no need of other peripherals, then a consumer OS is probably your better choice.
If your product is somewhere in the middle of the two scenarios above, then you really need to focus on levels of support, security and your development roadmap to understand which will be best for you.

Thoughts? Comments? It would be a pleasure to gain your insight. Scroll down to leave a comment, reach me a 2e@2t.com or join us on Facebook.

Author: Eric Eckstein, President and COO, Two Technologies

Microsoft Makes a bold move in Embedded Operating Systems for Mobile Handheld Devices

2010-04-12T09:55:00.006-04:00

April 12, 2010
At the Mobile World Congress on February 15th, Steve Ballmer announced a new strategy for Microsoft® Operating Systems on mobile handheld devices: Windows® Phone 7 Series (WP7). With this announcement Microsoft clearly has distinguished their OS solution offerings between consumer/enterprise and industrial/commercial markets and has raised the bar for the competition.

Microsoft needed to do this
According to comScore®, Microsofts share of the smart phone market fell over 20% from September 2009 through February 2010. Not a good position for Microsoft in a growing market segment.

This new OS is targeted only (and strictly) at the consumer market, no industrial or cross bred platforms need apply. Microsoft has done its homework and taken cues from what has worked: Apps, Marketplace, Multimedia (Zune™), and Multi-Touch user input. They also have learned what does not work: Operating System "ish" User Interfaces, incompatible hardware and applications, short battery life, and high priced development tools.

What happens now to Windows Mobile®? Windows Mobile 6.5 has been renamed Windows Phone Classic,and is still based upon CE 5. And that is probably where it ends. Microsoft has stated that Mobile applications will not run on WP7. This means that developers now have a few decisions to make: do we stay with a dead-end OS? And, what market am I really in? If you are in a consumer market: WP7 (or iPhone®, Android„¢ or BlackBerry®) are probably the way to go. If you require a rugged device, specific peripherals, sunlight readable displays, long lifecycles, gloved operation, custom keys, true cameras, and/or a specific user experience: CE is the clear choice in the market. Windows Phone Classic (aka Mobile) will still likely be sold by Microsoft through some vertical market vendors for the near future, but in terms of improvements, it is likely at its end.

R.I.P. Mobile 2010
Until now, Microsoft has stated (well, whispered…) that Mobile is a consumer oriented OS and CE is designed for vertical/industrial markets. In practice Microsoft has allowed the blurring of the line by offering the Mobile OS to vertical market providers (albeit with some key licensing requirements). By enabling this perceived indifference, Microsoft has confused the marketplace. I can’t recall how many of our client partners have told me that “CE will shortly be obsolete and replaced by Mobile” or “we chose Mobile because it is newer and more intuitive than CE”. Both of these were clearly not the direct intent of Microsoft, but the confusion by a lack of clear differentiation is evident.

Moving On
Microsoft now has a clear strategy for consumer and industrial products. If you have not seen the demonstrations of the prototypes of WP7, I recommend you do so, you can start at the WP7 site:
http://www.windowsphone7series.com/. The "Metro" GUI with its tiles, marketplace, and Zune multimedia experience looks like a real winner for the smart phone market. Microsoft has really done its homework.

In evaluating your OS choice for development and the marketing of your solution, you must consider what Microsoft's objectives are for their WP7 and CE products and ultimately how they will align with your market needs.

Microsoft has strategically restricted (they would say focused) the WP7 hardware platform with things such as a fixed memory model, capacitive touch panel (can't use gloves or a stylus) and only two choices of screen resolutions (320x480 and 480x800). They have stated that no upgrade path exists for any hardware currently manufactured by anyone (so much for the capital return on Mobile hardware). Microsoft has chosen to deadhead Mobile applications by stating that they will not run on WP7 . In reaction to this, key applications providers such as Adobe® and Skype™ (among others) have cancelled their developments for WM6.5 in favor of waiting until WP7 is released.

CE 6 clearly addresses the industrial market, especially with Release 3 now offering Silverlight®, Pan and Zoom Internet Explorer, Flash Lite, and other development enhancements. These enhancements give the developer an excellent user experience paradigm which allows for rich, modern, user interfaces and large data set sizes to work with and allow OEM providers, such as Two Technologies, to offer reliable, robust and extensible platforms for our clients.

I applaud Microsoft for this clear, bold move in announcing Windows Phone 7 Series. This action will continue to spur on innovation and development in the consumer and enterprise markets. With CE 6 R3 Microsoft offers a best-in-class operating system with leading edge development tools for the industrial and commercial marketplaces.

Thoughts? Comments? It would be a pleasure to gain your insight. Scroll down to leave a comment, reach me a 2e@2t.com or join us on Facebook.

Author: Eric Eckstein, President and COO, Two Technologies