Rugged mobile computers beat consumer models in TCO

Frontline Solutions, April, 2004

Rugged mobile computers may have a higher initial price tag than their consumer cousins, but a new Venture Development Corp. (VDC) study shows that rugged devices actually have a lower total cost of ownership (TCO) over time. According to VDC, higher service, support, and downtime costs for consumer devices outweighed the lower cost of hardware acquisition, resulting in higher per-unit cost over three- and five-year time periods.

Rugged computers consistently had a lower cost of ownership across all categories that VDC surveyed. The biggest discrepancy was in supply chain applications, where commercial devices averaged $2,526 per unit annually in system and downtime costs, while rugged devices averaged $1,713. The smallest difference, interestingly, was in manufacturing. Commercial devices in those applications cost $2,558 on average, while rugged devices cost $2,493.

www.vdc-corp.com

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