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Durabook Introduces New Advanced Z14I Fully-Rugged Laptop

Jul 28, 2021 • Hardware • News • Rugged laptops • durabook • GLOBAL • Z14I

Durabook, the global rugged mobile solutions brand owned by Twinhead International Corporation, announced today the introduction of its dramatically upgraded Z14I fully-rugged laptop.

The device is 1.6x faster than its predecessor thanks to the inclusions of the 11th Gen. Intel® Core™ processor. This exceptional performance, combined with other new features, makes the Durabook Z14I the world’s toughest fully-rugged laptop.

What the Manufacturers Say:

“Our new advanced Z14I laptop goes above and beyond the standard requirements to elevate the user experience,” said Twinhead CEO Fred Kao. “This fully rugged laptop solution with its endless customisation capability through its unique expansion box design fits perfectly in professional services and military/government applications such as mapping/dispatching, recording systems, CAD, assets management, and maintenance diagnostics. Additionally, as strong as they come, the unit is the best laptop in the market for outdoor usage.”

LEFT-1
The feature set has been included to specifically support data-intensive fieldwork, where there may be challenging conditions - from rain, drops, dust and extreme temperatures. Its ultra-long battery life of 16 hours, with five minutes of bridge time, ensures data loss and downtime are non-issues. It also allows extensive expansion options so that a single device can be used for multiple applications both in the field and in the command centre. Z14i features including the latest Thunderbolt™ 4, NVMe PCIe SSD drive, 14” FHD 1,000 nits display with proprietary DynaVue® sunlight-readable technology, fanless and hot-swappable battery design, MIL-STD-810H and MIL-STD-461G certifications, and ANSI/ISA 12.12.01-2000, CI/D2 classification.

Faster Computing Power

Equipped with the Tiger Lake mobile processor – 11th Gen. Intel Core i5-1135G7 (2.4GHz -4.2GHz)/i7-1165G7 (2.8GHz -4.7GHz) – the Z14I is up to 1.2x faster than the 10th generation version and 1.6x faster than the 8th gen (used in the previous model), a significant CPU upgrade. In addition, the device supports the Intel vPro platform, bringing together business-class performance, hardware-enhanced security features, modern remote manageability, and PC-fleet stability.

Storage

Equipped with the latest NVMe PCIe SSD technology, the Z14I provides up to 1TB of storage and R/W speeds of up to 2500MB/s, 4x faster than SATA III SSD. It also can accommodate two more internal SSD SATA III drives to maximise onboard storage, providing one each: NVMe PCIe SSD, SATA III SSD, and media bay SATA III SSD. In addition, if more storage is needed, the Z14I can be turned into a rugged portable server by adding a RAID storage extension chassis with up to four additional SATA III SSDs for RAID 0/1/5/10 configurations.

Tremendous I/O Interface Options

When it comes to interface options, the advanced Z14I offers:

Thunderbolt™ 4 technology; 40Gb/s of bandwidth; one port that supports multiple protocols (USB 4, DisplayPort, PCIe); supports up to 2x 4K displays; backward compatibility with Thunderbolt 3 and USB-C; maximum flexibility for docking station;
HDMI and VGA video ports as standard configuration
Equipped with 2x RJ-45 LAN and 2x RS-232 ports

Maximum Connectivity

Featuring advanced wireless technology and improved connection robustness with its Intel® Wi-Fi 6 AX201 and Bluetooth® V5.2, the Z14I is ideal for applications that require an instant response. Wi-Fi 6 AX201 provides a maximum speed of up to 2.4Gbps, 1.39x faster than AC 9260, while its Bluetooth® V5.2 bandwidth is 8x greater than v4.2 and can connect multiple devices at once.

Exceptional Graphics’ Performance

The new Z14I comes with Intel® Iris® Xe Graphics, 150 MHz higher than UHD 620, resulting in 2.75x faster 3D effective speed – more than enough for daily usages. For professionals running massive graphic computing, the Z14I also can be built with optional expansion standalone NVIDIA GeForce® GTX 1050.

More Rugged Than Ever

MIL-STD 810H certified (drop, shock, vibration, rain, dust, altitude, freeze/thaw, high/low temperature, temperature shock, humidity, explosive atmosphere, solar radiation, salt fog, fungus resistance), the Z14I withstands harsh environmental challenges. It also boasts six-foot drop resistance and IP65 certification to stand up to any extreme conditions. In addition, Ultra-long battery life of 16 hours with five minutes of bridge time ensures data loss and downtime are non-issues.

Z14I-intel11

AVAILABILITY

The upgraded Durabook Z14I fully rugged laptop starts at £2,988.

For more information visit Durabook @ https://www.durabook.com/en/products/z14i-laptop/.

Technology Adoption Is Key for the Effectiveness of Service Delivery

Jul 27, 2021 • Features • Aly Pinder • Covid-19 • Servitization and Advanced Services • GLOBAL

Kris Oldland, Editor-in-Chief, Field Service News is joined on the Field Service News Digital Symposium by Aly Pinder Jr, Program Director of Service Innovation and Connected Products at IDC. Aly is a seasoned expert in the field service industry,...

Findings Announced from Industry Study into Customer-Centricity and Technology in Field Service

Jul 26, 2021 • News • Digital Transformation • customer centricity • Customer Satisfaction

Field Service News Research is pleased to announce the findings of their recent study run in partnership with HSO that looks at the latest trends around customer-centricity and the increasing use of technology to drive improved customer satisfaction...

In recent years we have seen a marked shift in the emphasis on the metrics which define success within field service operations.

Traditionally, the critical metrics within field service organisations have centred around operational success. KPIs such as Mean-time-to-Repair (MTTR), Technician Utilisation and First-Time-Fix (FTF) have always been at the top of any benchmarking study relating to this area.

However, increasingly across the last few years of undertaking such benchmarking studies, we have seen Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) metrics become widely cited as critical KPIs amongst field service organisations.

For example, in a previous study hosted by FSN Research, we noted that 51% of field service companies now saw an equal weighting in importance between operationally-focused KPIs and CSAT-focused KPIs. Furthermore, 13% of field service companies went further and stated that they felt CSAT focused KPIs were of greater importance for measuring their business success.

Taking this in mind, FSN Research in partnership with HSO has undertaken a detailed study to understand precisely what CSAT metrics are being tracked.

At the same time, we must also acknowledge that the digital transformation journey our sector has been on for several years was significantly accelerated due to the pandemic across 2020 and into this year.

There has been much discussion of what the new normal will look like for the field service sector.

However, the indicators apparent within numerous studies from FSN Research and beyond suggest many of the key trends that were emerging will be at the heart of our thinking as we move into the brave new world of the post-pandemic field service operations.

Three of the key pillars of this future of field service are servitization, digital transformation and customer-centricity. Therefore, the second objective of this study is to better define the interplay between these three crucial areas.

Next, the study was designed to focus on how the digital transformation our industry is moving through can empower the shift to an industry more focused on customer success and, finally, to assess whether that transformation will lead us naturally towards becoming an industry that places servitization at its heart.

In the study we spoke to a sample of over 280 field service leaders from a variety of different industry verticals including manufacturing, utilities, telecommunications, power generation, healthcare, med-tech, security and many others.

The study was conducted during April and May 2021 and data was collected online via personal invitations to participate. The data presented in this report is quantitative. We are currently undertaking interviews with a selection of respondents for our final report within this study which will then be based on further qualitative data yielded in those interviews.

Field Service News subscribers can access this latest Field Service News Research Benchmarking Report now that outlines all of the key findings of this study.

Subscribers across all our subscription tiers can currently access this paper instantly by hitting the button below.

If you are yet to subscribe you can join our free-forever subscription tier FSN Standard by hitting the button to access a dedicated registration page that provides you instant access to this white paper PLUS you will also be able to access our monthly selection of premium resources as soon as you are registered.

Data usage note: By accessing this content you consent to the contact details submitted when you registered as a subscriber to fieldservicenews.com to be shared with the listed sponsor of this premium content HSO, who may contact you for legitimate business reasons to discuss the content of this white paper, as per the terms and conditions of our privacy policy available here which is in line with GDPR regulations and is an ongoing condition of subscription.

IFS’ Growth Trajectory Continues with Software Revenue Growth at 20% for H1, Driven by Impressive Rise in Cloud Adoption

Jul 26, 2021 • News • Cloud services • Digital Transformation • field service management • IFS • GLOBAL

IFS, the global cloud enterprise applications company, today announced its financial results for the first half of 2021. After a strong Q1, H1 is evidence that the company is successfully executing its growth strategy and pursuing its transformation...

With more companies recognising the benefits of deploying in the Cloud and turning to IFS to digitally transform and deliver their moments of service, all software revenue line items grew double digit driven by a steep acceleration in cloud revenue (+79% YoY) and recurring revenue (+27% YoY).

Continued improvement in the quality of the revenue mix with software at 74% of revenue AND H1 Cloud revenue up 79% YoY

H1 also saw some key milestones for IFS, including:

The acquisition of Axios Systems extends IFS’s service management proposition into ITSM and ITOM to create the most compelling Enterprise Service Management proposition on the market. Combined with IFS’s leadership in Field Service Management, this secures IFS’s ambition to cement itself as the market leader in broader the Service Cloud space.
The launch of IFS Cloud, IFS Cloud is built using the latest technology including the industry’s most modern UX, digital-twins for enhanced performance, low code/no code development, containerization and a composable architecture which are all critical to creating business agility and realizing value.
The global launch of IFS’s new branding together with the Moment of Service sets out IFS’s clear strategy to align its value proposition to Servitization to enable organisations to deliver their Moment of Service.

IFS CEO, Darren Roos, commented: “IFS is a technology led company with the single goal to make the latest technology advancements available to our customers in a way that creates value fast, has a low total cost of ownership, and is easy to consume and use. H1 is evidence that our strategy to focus on this and to build agility into our product operations so customers can respond to the market fast is working.” Roos continued: “Customers can see the difference in what IFS is doing, and that ensuring their success is why we do what we do. They also see that very few other vendors offer flexibility in deployment, depth in product and powerful technology while shaping their business around customers experience.” Roos concluded: “Delivering our Moment of Service to our customers is a very real mission for IFS, and the sharp rise in cloud adoption is testimony to that.”

IFS Chief Financial Officer, Constance Minc, commented: “I believe our H1 performance is evidence of a strong and successful strategy. We are delivering double digit software revenue growth at 20% and our share of software revenue and recurring revenue continue to increase improving future performance predictability.” Minc added: “The upward trend in our performance is not only present in the last 6 months but over the long term as demonstrated by the double-digit growth in LTM software revenue for the past 3.5 years.”

Other financial highlights include:

H1 software revenue was SEK 2.6bn, an increase of 20% Year on Year
H1 recurring revenue was SEK 2bn, an increase of 27% Year on Year and representing more than 80% of software revenue
H1 cloud revenue increased 79% Year on Year representing more than 39% of software revenue
Proportion of license revenues from net new customers is 54% of total

* Note: all figures based in Swedish Krona and reported in constant currency.

Learnings From Beyond the Field Service Sector

Jul 26, 2021 • Features • Digital Transformation • Workforce Managemnet • Field Workforce • EMEA

Kris Oldland, Editor-in-Chief, Field Service News is joined by Mark Belenky, CEO Software Outsourcing Solutions and a specialist in workforce management solutions to work through some of the key findings of an exclusive Field Service News Research...

ETELM Named Partner as the European Commission Launches the INTREPID Project for Safer and Faster Exploration of Disaster Sites

Jul 23, 2021 • News • Telecommunications • Managing the Mobile Workforce • EMEA • ETELM

ETELM, the radio communications infrastructure specialist, has been named as part of the INTEPID project consortium awarded €6.8 million by the European Commission. The aim of the consortium is to create an innovative new platform for the safer and faster exploration and assessment of disaster zones.Combining deep indoor networking with other advanced and groundbreaking technologies such as intelligent amplification, extended reality, smart cybernetic assistants and positioning capabilities, a total of 17 partners from across seven European countries form the consortium now tasked with developing this specialist platform.

ETELM will be contributing its expertise in critical communications infrastructure to provide an innovative Tactical Communication System to improve both indoor and outdoor exploration capabilities of first responders. It will also be working on a Tactical Range Extender solution to enhance indoor coverage, enabling the INTREPID network to reach areas where signal propagation will be otherwise limited, such as underground or deep indoors.

THE INTREPID PLATFORM WILL ENABLE FIRST RESPONDERS TO START OPERATIONS IMMEDIATELY WITHOUT HAVING TO WAIT FOR SPECIALISED TEAMS OR FOR THE AREA TO BE FULLY SECURED

Nicolas Hauswald, CEO of ETELM, said: “It’s not uncommon that in a time of crisis the pre-established public operator networks will either quickly become overloaded or crash entirely. This means that a more reliable and robust means of communicating effectively is essential for first responders. Through INTREPID we are looking at worst case scenario planning where we can leverage a variety of technologies, including the use of drones and robots, to work together in ensuring that the response to a crisis can be deployed as fast and as effectively as possible, even in the most treacherous environments.”

Many challenges arise in the immediate aftermath of a natural or manmade disaster. First responders must make urgent decisions in large, complex and hostile areas with many unknown and unsafe spaces to explore. Lack of reliable information and deep uncertainty about the environment and the situation, as well as the nature and location of victims and threats, are often serious obstacles to a rapid and effective response.

The INTREPID platform will enable first time responders to start operations immediately without having to wait for specialized teams or for the area to be fully secured.

Dr Olivier Balet, CS Group and project coordinator, said: “We believe that advanced drones and robots that can collaborate with each other through enhanced situational awareness and onsite assistance thanks to extended reality and intelligence amplification concepts will offer first responders an unprecedented head start when operating in hazardous areas. “INTREPID will revolutionize rescue operations and we plan to bring these innovations to the market in the next couple of years.”

This three-year long project, which kicked-off at the end of 2020, will validate the effectiveness of its results in three iterative and complementary pilots to support the rescue operations in complex or dangerous areas to be explored. Scenarios will include a flood in a Stockholm metro station, an industrial accident on a SEVESCO site in Marseille, and a major explosion in a public building in Madrid.

For more information, visit www.intrepid-project.eu

How the Role of the Service Engineer Can Evolve and Adapt to the Rapid Changes in Service Delivery

Jul 23, 2021 • Features • Aly Pinder • Covid-19 • Servitization and Advanced Services • GLOBAL

The Key Metrics Used to Track and Measure Success in Workforce Management

Jul 22, 2021 • Features • Digital Transformation • Workforce Managemnet • Field Workforce • EMEA

Standard BI Tools Aren’t Foolproof

Jul 22, 2021 • Features • Digital Transformation • Service Leadership • Aquant • customer experience

In this second excerpt from a recent white paper published by Aquant, we discuss which methods are best for creating customer risk scorecards and managing workforce performance issues.

This feature is just one short excerpt from a white paper published by Aquant

www.fieldservicenews.com subscribers can read the full white paper now by hitting the button below.

If you are yet to subscribe you can do so for free by hitting the button and registering for our complimentary subscription tier FSN Standard on a dedicated page that provides you instant access to this white paper PLUS you will also be able to access our monthly selection of premium resources as soo as you are registered.

Data usage note: By accessing this content you consent to the contact details submitted when you registered as a subscriber to fieldservicenews.com to be shared with the listed sponsor of this premium content Aquant who may contact you for legitimate business reasons to discuss the content of this white paper, as per the terms and conditions of your subscription agreement which you opted into in line with GDPR regulations and is an ongoing condition of subscription.

A host of analytical and business intelligence (BI) resources exist solely for keeping tabs on metrics.

But standard BI tools still have limitations.

For one, they don’t usually understand a large chunk of your free text service data, including details sourced directly from customer comments, call center agent notes, field technician debriefs, and machine log files. Standard BI tools make it challenging to access, analyze, or interpret unstructured data without a team of data scientists on standby.

Classic BI dashboards only display what’s currently happening within an organization based on past data, which is usually incomplete. The big picture remains obscured once again, making it difficult to use those insights to reach company goals and spot patterns that reveal likely future events. This can lead to the prioritization of unnecessary KPIs, or even worse, analysis paralysis.

Business leaders need total transparency and understanding of their current service landscape to succeed. And these can only be accomplished using tools that give you quick access to easy-to- read analyses that go beyond past trends, offering an idea of what is likely to happen in the future and providing prescriptive recommendations.

Leaders should be leveraging data-centric insights to create the most desired outcomes for their customers — ones that support growth and provide teams with the visibility and know-how to resolve any issues that arise.

Evaluating Performance With Standard KPIs Alone Creates Blind Spots

Most service organizations track KPIs, but too many narrowly focus on single measurements such as first time fix. Knowing the FTF rate is an important performance indicator, but when measured in a vacuum, it offers an incomplete or inaccurate snapshot of the health of your service organization.

Without zooming out for a 360-degree view, decisions that boost one KPI might lead to systemic and costly service issues. For example, how is team performance impacting customer satisfaction, or how are high first time fix rates driving up service costs?

It is beneficial to have a comprehensive understanding of service KPIs, including:

First time fix (FTF)
Mean time to resolution (MTTR)
Mean time between failure (MTBF)

By looking at these metrics in depth, you’ll gain deeper insight into every aspect of the service lifecycle, and see clear connections between performance and service outcomes.

This feature is just one short excerpt from a white paper published by Aquant.

www.fieldservicenews.com subscribers can read the full white paper now by hitting the button below.

If you are yet to subscribe you can do so for free by hitting the button and registering for our complimentary subscription tier FSN Standard on a dedicated page that provides you instant access to this white paper PLUS you will also be able to access our monthly selection of premium resources as soo as you are registered.

Data usage note: By accessing this content you consent to the contact details submitted when you registered as a subscriber to fieldservicenews.com to be shared with the listed sponsor of this premium content Aquant who may contact you for legitimate business reasons to discuss the content of this white paper, as per the terms and conditions of your subscription agreement which you opted into in line with GDPR regulations and is an ongoing condition of subscription.

AUTHOR ARCHIVES: Field Service News

About the Author:

What the Manufacturers Say:

Faster Computing Power

Storage

Tremendous I/O Interface Options

Maximum Connectivity

Exceptional Graphics’ Performance

More Rugged Than Ever

AVAILABILITY

For more information visit Durabook @ https://www.durabook.com/en/products/z14i-laptop/.

Want to know more?

Further Reading:

Field Service News subscribers can access this latest Field Service News Research Benchmarking Report now that outlines all of the key findings of this study.

Subscribers across all our subscription tiers can currently access this paper instantly by hitting the button below.

Continued improvement in the quality of the revenue mix with software at 74% of revenue AND H1 Cloud revenue up 79% YoY

Further Reading:

Want to know more?

Further Reading:

THE INTREPID PLATFORM WILL ENABLE FIRST RESPONDERS TO START OPERATIONS IMMEDIATELY WITHOUT HAVING TO WAIT FOR SPECIALISED TEAMS OR FOR THE AREA TO BE FULLY SECURED

Further Reading:

Want to know more?

Further Reading:

Want to know more?

Further Reading:

This feature is just one short excerpt from a white paper published by Aquant

www.fieldservicenews.com subscribers can read the full white paper now by hitting the button below.

This feature is just one short excerpt from a white paper published by Aquant.

www.fieldservicenews.com subscribers can read the full white paper now by hitting the button below.

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