8 Reasons Why the Honeywell RT10 Rugged Tablet Should be A Top Consideration for Your Enterprise

The rugged tablet needs to be agile and live in a tough world where they are constantly being dropped, rattled, and rolled. You will find ruggedized tablets in a wide range of use cases involving many types of physical abuse, such as:

• Used standing, walking, or even docked in vehicles like trucks, ambulances, and forklifts.
• Across environments that range from field service and manufacturing to construction, transportation and logistics, healthcare, or even retail and finance.
• Used by supervisors and shop floor employees, managers, and maintenance workers.

Are you considering a rugged tablet for your enterprise? You are probably going to be conducting some level of Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) analysis that includes questions like:

• What are your specific use cases for the ruggeded table?
• Is the rugged tablet the right form factor (e.g., size, shape, and other physical specifications of components) for my application?
• Is the tablet suitable for my workforce and associated workflows?
• How will the tablet fit into our current device portfolio?
• Will the tablet be able to run our needed software and apps?
• What is the TCO of the tablet?
• Is there a service program to help manage the device portfolio?
• How long do you expect your tablet to last?
• Will the newer tablet models have backward compatibility with accessories?

Eight Questions Answered about the Honeywell RT10 Rugged Tablet

At Honeywell, we would like to think that our ruggedized tablet family is a leader in its class. In fact, we consider all of our ruggedized/enterprise devices top considerations for any enterprise.

Honeywell's rugged devices are designed from the inside out. They are durable enough to be used in the most demanding role, extremely harsh conditions (e.g., temperatures, water), impervious to continual bumps and drops, resistant to shocks and vibrations and are dust and waterproof. Their tough casings protect them against hardware failure that can dramatically extend the tablets' lifecycle.

Screen damage is a leading source of repairs to mobile devices, so models with scratch-resistant screens are advantageous. Specialty screens can also remain readable in bright sunlight, and those sealed against moisture don't fog over when workers move among different temperatures.

How the rugged device interacts with peripheral services also has an impact on reliability and TCO.

Integrated features or services are more rugged and reliable than separate peripheral components. For example, a scan engine integrated with the rugged tablet is protected by the computers rugged housing, takes advantage of the computer's ruggedized housing, drop protection and warranty coverage. This integration can potentially replace the need for a separate, handheld scanner.

Honeywell's rugged RT10 tablet family of products — RT10W (Windows)1 and RT10A (Android), combine the advantages of consumer devices and the purpose-built enterprise computers into a single package. Like consumer devices, Honeywell tablets are designed with the user in mind, and they provide targeted functionality and enhanced connectivity. Because the devices are touch-based, they are more familiar to the user, which improves speed to productivity.

When you add industry-leading software to the durable hardware, the rugged tablets are a take-anywhere, do-anything solution for workflows that require mobility and functionality. Let's go ahead and answer eight questions about the Honeywell RT10 ruggeded tablet:

1. How rugged is the Honeywell Ruggedized RT10 tablet?
The Honeywell RT10 Tablet meets and exceeds the gold standard for ruggedness which is the Military Standard 810G rating (also known as MIL-STD-810G), a set of protocols that the U.S. Department of Defense uses to assess mobile computers. In order to meet this standard, the RT10 Tablet successfully passed the 810G standard trials that included 48-inch drops onto two inches of plywood over concrete. Additionally, the RT10 can withstand exposure to high and low-temperature extremes ( -20°C to 60°C) (-4°F to 140°F) and tests for resistance to humidity, altitude and vibration.

Also, the RT10 is certified with the IP65 standard, which is

• Complete protection for the enclosed equipment from dust and other materials such as dirt, oils and non-corrosives.
• Protection from voltage and moving parts for people who come in contact with the enclosure.
• A high level of protection from water, including powerful jet sprays used during washdown.

2. How good is the RT10 tablet power management?
The RT10 Tablet is designed for productivity. The tablet includes several power management functions that can help ensure the batteries will last an entire shift. For remote mobile workers, device uptime is crucial. Dead batteries could mean a lost day of work. The RT10 has powerful batteries, extending working hours before the batteries need to be recharged or swapped out for spares. If you need to change a battery, the RT10 has hot-swappable battery packs that can save you the hours of downtime that can occur when a device loses its charge.

The RT10 makes efficient use of battery power with integrated peripherals, which is a critical success factor in any mobile computing application. Because wireless communications, barcode scanning and portable printing all place an additional burden on batteries, the RT10 power management advantages ensure batteries will last the length of the shift, even when peripherals are heavily used.

3. How good is the RT10 scanner?
While general-purpose scanning may only involve a few inches between the scanner and barcode, industrial environments, like warehouses and distribution centers, are much more likely to involve fast-paced, high-volume barcode scanning from a variety of distances. The RT10 comes with a standard scanner or the new FlexRange™ imager, which combines advanced opto-mechanics with no moving parts. It can scan long ranges from a few inches to 30+ feet (9+ meters) without compromising accuracy or speed while maintaining maximum productivity.

4. What is the Mobility EdgeTM platform?

Honeywell believes that customers invest in solutions, not devices. Toward that end, we work with our customers to understand the business objectives and assemble complete solutions to solve those problems. This not only means building innovative and powerful computers but also includes:

• Purpose-built enterprise design that optimizes the user experience.
• Accessory systems that are optimized for the use case, easy to use, with forward and backward compatibility.
• Platform software that provides continuous and robust compatibility, security and support for the life of the product.
• Honeywell deployment tools that accelerate time-to-value.
• Relationships with independent software providers that provide critical apps to complete customer solution sets.

Honeywell recognized that industries that included field operations, warehouses, supply chain and logistic applications wanted a unified hardware and software platform for all form factors – one that allowed for rapid deployments, robust performance, and adaptability to changing needs. We completely innovated our approach to meeting the challenges of supporting a mobile workforce, and Mobility Edge was the answer.

Honeywell's Mobility Edge delivers an innovative solution to these challenges.
Mobility Edge offers an integrated, repeatable, scalable approach to device management based on a common hardware and software platform. Designed for Android5 it delivers a unified platform on which all software solutions are based. Businesses can develop and deploy faster while reducing development costs. Honeywell is deeply committed to the longevity and quality of the Mobility Edge platform. Honeywell ruggedized devices on the Android Mobility Edge platform offer the longest lifecycle in the industry with support through seven Android releases. The following products are built on the Mobility Edge platform: Honeywell CT40, CT40XP, CT60, CT60XP, CN80, CN80G, CK65, RT10A, and Thor™ VM1A, and VM3A.

By providing a unified hardware and software platform with an agile approach, we can bring you more secure and reliable solutions across your operation.

The common platform provides for the efficient reuse of IT investment across multiple form factors both across the present fleet and over the future roadmap. It is accompanied by a common deployment toolset that speeds time-to-value and the Operational Intelligence cloud optimization and management platform that provides visibility into device location, condition and full-life maintenance history. All of the devices are supported by popular MDM solutions as well.

5. Can you define the type of security we can expect with the RT10 tablet?
Honeywell has a deep institutional and cultural focus on security across multiple domains. At Honeywell, we invest over $50 million annually in cybersecurity and employ 300+ dedicated security professionals focused on protecting our customers.

We design security into our products, policies, and processes. The best way to ensure that you have a secure device is to make sure you are using the most recent version of the operating system and up-to-date security patches. We provide a regular security patch cadence for Mobility Edge devices of at least every 90 days and often as frequently as every 30 days. OS version upgrades are provided annually.

Our security built-in, design-to-delivery process has a strong emphasis on programming security into products to anticipate and mitigate risk. We do this by embedding deep domain knowledge of industry-leading security practices throughout our full design and development process to ensure our solutions are as secure as possible from the start. We also make our solutions as free of vulnerabilities to attack as possible through such measures as continuous testing, authentication safeguards, and adherence to best programming practices. And, this isn't anything new for Honeywell. We have had over 1,000 global engagements since 2006 and are the provider of managed security services for over 350 industrial sites. To continue our focus and lead the way in the industry, we put in place the industry's first Cybersecurity Risk Manager and developed strategic partnerships with leading cybersecurity product vendors.

6. How long will the Honeywell rugged tablets last?
A consumer-grade device is designed to be replaced every 12 to 36 months. They are great for taking on occasion a photo, social media, email, and texting, but not for life as an enterprise mobile computer. And there is no guarantee that new models will be backward compatible for accessories.

For Honeywell enterprise-level computers, the life expectancy is measured in years, not months. For example, Honeywell devices are guaranteed to be available for purchase for at least three years, be backwards compatible with accessories, and supported for five years once the device has been discontinued.

Rugged devices usually last twice as long as consumer devices because the devices purpose-built for mission-critical situations and includes features such as:

• A display optimized for viewing in bright sunshine
• Screen response optimized for use while wearing gloves
• A design that works well in a broad range of temperatures
• A design that works in dusty, as well as damp, environments
• A superior scanning functionality for barcodes, compared with camera-based options, which produces faster per-scan times and fewer rescans
• Long battery life that usually supports an entire shift, exchangeable batteries, and multidevice charging solutions
• Improved device survivability, which is important when employees depend completely on the device, and the cost of downtime due to a device failure is high

7. What is the TCO for Honeywell RT10?
Enterprise leaders are hyper-focused, reducing operating expenses. Technology decision-makers need to understand the costs and benefits of mobile solutions. Selecting the right mobile device for the workflow and the environment in which it will be performed is key to success.

A TCO analysis provides important insight for aligning the 'right' mobile solutions with the target application or use case. You are able to indeed assign value to the mobile device as a solution over the narrow focus at the upfront cost. This reduces the risk of a failed or poorly performing mobile solution that disrupts workflow productivity and increases the overall TCO. ¹

Gartner says², "Ruggedized (enterprise) equipment tends to be significantly more expensive than commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) devices – typically 2.5 to three times more expensive, when comparing list prices. When doing a full total cost of ownership (TCO) calculation, ruggedized equipment often comes out as having a lower or equal TCO, due to its longer life and the use of a single device across multiple (shift) workers. Customers often focus solely on the ability of the device to withstand drops, and, as such, believe that regular devices enclosed in a case, at a lower cost, could suffice. This may be true in some situations, but many other factors need to be considered regarding truly ruggedized devices."

VDC Research³ adds the average annual total cost of ownership (TCO) of mobile devices supporting line of business applications is 42.5% to 60.5% lower for purpose-built mobile devices. The research factored in upfront acquisition costs, deployment costs, training costs, support costs and cost of downtime.

This contributes to their higher TCO as calculated by the disruptive impact on worker productivity, in addition to higher support costs. Lost productivity represents as much as 41% of mobile devices TCO. On average, mobile workers lose 50 to 80 minutes of productivity when their mobile devices fail.²Consumer-grade devices increase support costs. Recent research by the Aberdeen Group showed that a business with 1,000 mobile devices spends approximately $170,000 more per year to support consumer-grade devices than enterprise-grade devices.³

8. What other Honeywell applications and productivity tools are enterprises evaluating for use with the RT10?
This question can be answered in so many ways. It essentially depends on the industry, workflow, form factor, and more. The following are a few of the areas that we are seeing decision-makers adopting for their enterprises:

Workplace analytics. Enterprises have been expanding their reliance on aggregated workplace analytics and insights gathered from applications, users, endpoint devices, processes and networks. Workplace analytic tools help provide insights about the device, employee, team/department and overall organization. This information is used to improve areas such as technology use and adoption, worker engagement, user experience and system/workflow performance and behaviors that help improve collaboration and productivity.

Ring scanners. Frontline workers rely more on easy-to-use devices such as ring scanners to quickly and easily perform tasks. The small barcode scanner that is worn as a ring on two fingers enables workers to use both hands and scan simultaneously. The scanner/imager is connected via wires or Bluetooth to the handheld mobile computer. Recent developments in LED and low-power Bluetooth technology have boosted the capabilities and battery life to make the ring scanner an optimal consideration for worker performance. These scanners are also easily combined with voice technology.

Remote worker communication and guidance. Workers and associates have seen an increase in collaborating with colleagues in real-time through mobile and wearable devices. Using a device camera, a worker can share a view of their current environment and task being performed with a colleague/manager for assistance. The manager, for example, can provide verbal guidance from real-time visual input from the remote worker's view. This type of interaction can be captured for training, post-task audit and performance analysis.

Team and workflow collaboration. Teams have found it important to refine and increase collaboration. These tools can include direct and group messaging, alerts, activity streams, files, tasks, bots, search, and meetings (audio, video). Collaboration tools create an ongoing chat-based work environment to help groups coordinate shared activities. This improves team communications and coordination by unifying interaction with applications, tasks and content.

Push to Talk. Workers are leveraging apps on smart handsets that use alternate communication networks (Wi-Fi and cellular) to provide communications, including push to talk (PTT), audio broadcasts, and messaging. These devices allow enterprises to consolidate devices for frontline workers and reduce costs. PTT on a mobile device eliminates the need for a second device in those scenarios where voice is being used to coordinate a team's activities. In this context, PTT refers to applications or network-based services (PTT over cellular/Wi-Fi) delivering PTT on modern handsets/smartphones. After pushing the button, PTT some or all endpoints on that channel/frequency/group can hear what that person says until they release the button again.

Speech recognition and voice-directed workflows. Enterprises are engaging technology that is transforming manual processes into voice-directed workflows. Frontline workers wear a headset with microphones and communicate orally with software to receive and confirm tasks. Errors are reduced by providing a hands-free, eyes-up technology that keeps workers focused on the task at hand. There is no longer the distraction of looking at a screen or a piece of paper to know where to go or what to pick next. The worker is directed via voice throughout the entire process, allowing them to be more alert and aware while performing any number of tasks.

Software to Address Health and Safety of the Workforce. Honeywell has expanded the feature set of Operational Intelligence to support the needs of the mobile workforce.

Operational Intelligence software is a remote asset management platform that helps DCs keep their mobile-equipped employees productive while assisting them to respond to local site health and safety compliance requirements. New health crisis response features give employees control to act quickly, increasing productivity and decreasing device downtime while reducing the frequency of contact or touch. The features include:

• Social Distancing Proximity Detection allows organizations to prioritize and monitor social distancing practices. The feature monitors the proximity between Honeywell devices and logs alerts, allowing frontline workers to promote social distancing and adherence to safety guidelines.
• Check Out/In assigns unique devices or assets to a specific user, creating a chain of custody that provides managers device tracing data. This will provide real-time visibility to each device's location throughout the DC, thereby eliminating the additional costs and hassle of devices that go missing due to being misplaced or lost.
• Device Cleaning Management gives you the ability to set-up configurable cleaning protocols for each asset. Configurations can be per employee on an hourly, daily or in-between shift basis. Each cleaning event will be logged with the user, time and date for reporting. Also, the feature can send alerts to clean other assets and areas of the worksite.
• Remote Control and Remote Wipe give IT administrators the availability to quickly take control of a device in any location to investigate and fix issues remotely and digitally wipe devices to original factory settings, allowing IT professionals to maintain social distances.

Honeywell Smart Talk for T&L Communications. Honeywell Smart Talk is a true voice-enabled unified workforce communications application for the Transportation & Logistics environment that tackles fragmented communications. You receive enterprise-grade security for voice calling, text and media messaging, and user presence. Smart Talk can be added to Honeywell RT10 Mobile Computer or to most types of mobile devices workers already carry. Device-enabled employees are always connected and can access critical information from company headquarters and operational dispatch while out on the road making deliveries. This minimizes contact as they continue to maintain social distancing while keeping their focus on meeting logistics needs

You enable smarter communications for the entire team from a single mobile device. One device to manage and maintain. One device replacing the need to support and buy consumer mobile phones.

Honeywell General-purpose Devices with Disinfectant-ready Housing. Honeywell is introducing a broad range of its most popular scanners, mobile computers, and printers with disinfectant-ready housings (DRHs) for general-purpose applications.

This is the same DRHs that Honeywell designed to withstand the regular cleaning protocol required to address the infection and disease control needs of the healthcare industry. Disinfectant-ready housings have been proven to be durable in more than a decade of use in the healthcare industry.

With the added benefit of being frequently cleaned, these devices can be used throughout the warehousing, logistics and retail fields with the same ease of use as standard Honeywell products but can promote a healthier work environment for employees and customers. For more information, see: Honeywell Announces Complete Line of General-purpose Devices with Disinfectant-ready Housing.

Manage Honeywell Enterprise Mobility. Honeywell Enterprise Mobility Services offers a comprehensive set of solutions that addresses every phase of the mobility lifecycle – from device selection to security concerns – while enabling your employees to work from any device at any time, anywhere in the world. The Honeywell Enterprise Mobility Services are designed to improve operational efficiencies within the DC through managing spare pools, including the repair and commissioning of devices, improving asset management and providing multi-tier support for the applications within the DC.

Honeywell Edge Services. Honeywell Edge Services provides companies with a variety of solutions that support your devices throughout the life of your devices. With Honeywell Edge Services, you get a full-service solution or the ability to customize a solution that fits your exact requirements. Our offering also gives you the confidence of having leading-class technologies combined with service and support plans that are designed to keep you operational for longer.

Conclusion
When Honeywell developed the Honeywell RT10 family of products — RT10W (Windows OS) and RT10A (Android) — we ensured that the tablets were designed for rapid user adoption, minimized TCO, and optimized device management. No matter your role — supervisor or a shop floor employee, a manager, or a maintenance worker — the RT10 is ready to fit into your daily workflow.

With its 10.1-inch bright, high-resolution, optically bonded display and a light yet durable form factor, the Honeywell RT10A rugged tablet is easy to use all day long, making it perfect for rapid user adoption. For data capture, the FlexRange dual-lens imager is capable of scans less than 0.1 m (5 in) all the way out to 10.7 m (35 ft), so users can easily capture barcodes from across the room without having to waste time getting close enough for a scan. In addition to flexibility and ease of use, mobile devices must also deliver minimized

A low TCO is achieved through its durability, flexibility, and first-class support. With its rugged drop specification and IP65 rating, the RT10 is built to last, and its hot-swappable battery packs can save you the hours of downtime that can occur when a device loses its charge. Also, the RT10A is built on Honeywell's Mobility Edge platform, which helps future-proof your investment as well as accelerating deployments to minimize your time to value.

Contact a Honeywell Solutions Expert today! Call 1-800-934-3163.

¹ VDC Research Group, Inc. | Enterprise Mobility, "Total Cost of Ownership Models for Line of Business Mobile Solutions," December 2018.

² Source: Gartner, Revisit Your Ruggedized Strategy Before You're Hit by the End of OS Support, Leif-Olof Wallin, Stephen Kleynhans, et al., Published 27 March 2017.

³ VDC Research Group, Inc. | Enterprise Mobility, "Total Cost of Ownership Models for Line of Business Mobile Solutions," December 2018.

⁴ Windows is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation
⁵ Android is trademark of Google LLC