Hardened electronics serve
hardened warriors at the edge.
By Henry Canaday SOTECH Correspondent
Personal computers and similar devices have become essential tools for warfighters. And like other tools, weapons and the warfighters themselves, these high-tech devices must be extraordinarily rugged to survive and do their jobs. Panasonic’s Toughbook line of computers started out in law enforcement, explained Tim Collins, senior director of Panasonic Solutions for the federal government. They then moved into military uses where they encounter temperature extremes, dust, water and shock impacts, and still yield very low fault rates.
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Tim Collins
“PC magazine reported that in the first year, 20 percent of laptops needed a repair,” Collins said. “For Toughbook it was 2 percent.” The Toughbook CF-31 is the company’s stalwart. “It does it all,” Collins said. “The Marines tried to break it by running over it with a HMMWV and could not do it.” Not only is the CF-31’s chassis rugged, but it has ruggedized components, Intel chip sets and embedded wireless. Panasonic just added the CF-19, a Toughbook laptop convertible to a tablet, “for those who need touch or pen entry,” Collins explained. In tablet
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