Adventures With Dell's Rugged PC Line-Up

It is not often that rugged PC deployments exist in a bubble. They’re typically part of an IT infrastructure that involves mainstream mobile devices, desktop, servers, and other connected devices as well. Because Dell is also a leader in the notebook, desktop, and server markets, the company is quick to point out that it is currently the only company that can offer a single point of contact for support on all of these product lines.


Dell’s commitment to these markets also affords the company the ability the offer premium support services that its competitors cannot. Dell’s ProSupport Plus packages, for example, deliver predictive failure notifications to customers, and they are backed up by six 24/7 Global Command Centers, which consist of in-house, top-tier support personnel -- not outsourced third parties that may be working from a script and aren’t intimately familiar with the product line-up.


ProSupport Plus provides complete support services, including priority access to expert support, accidental damage repair, and proactive, predictive monitoring for automatic issue prevention and resolution. According to Dell, customers who opt for ProSupport Plus spend up to 84% less time on technical support calls and take up to 58% fewer steps to resolve common hardware issues than key competitors.


As an interesting aside, Dell also has a Federal Command Center staffed with military veterans, which services the US Government and maintains sensitive data. The Federal Command Center was similar to one of the Global Command Centers, but we weren’t allowed to take pictures inside – so it’s only a shot of the door for you...


Our experience with Dell’s rugged team was interesting to say the least. Obviously, it’s not every day that we get to literally throw $5,000 notebooks around. But to see some of the testing and qualification that goes into the machines gives us a new sense of appreciation for the products. There’s a reason so few manufacturers play in the space – it simply requires a level of commitment that many manufacturers cannot afford to offer. Dell drove the point home that it is going to be pushing hard in the rugged market moving forward and that it is committed to the space. Dell’s Jeff Clarke, vice chairman, Operations and president of Client Solutions spoke to us directly about the company’s commitment to rugged and its future plans. All things considered, the company’s message was clear – it wants to own the rugged PC space and it has the production volume, support services, and ecosystem to do it.