Government Keys Into the Mobile-Computing Fray

Anyone who's watched a minute of "24" knows that the planet would be doomed if Jack Bauer and his colleagues did not carry top-quality mobile-computing devices. After all, on-the-go tech toys allow the show's Counter Terrorist Unit to access traffic grids, run ID data on suspects and implement a "seal-the-perimeter" plan when the going gets rough.

But these days, government-agency customers don't need to be fully involved in the rigors of homeland security to take advantage of the latest in mobile-computing solutions that run on handheld devices and tablet or notebook PCs. Nor do they have to be police officers, firefighters, FEMA workers, EMS technicians or any one of a number of classic first-responders to crime scenes and disasters. It's clear that any agency that sends its employees out in the field--whether they're census-takers, crop-inventory managers, park rangers, welfare workers, auditors, road engineers or truck inspectors--now demands greater mobility to provide better service to citizens.

Just ask John Hill, president of Allegiance Technology, a Horsham, Pa.-based solution provider specializing in mobile-tablet PC solutions. Last year, his company secured a major contract with Montgomery County, Pa., to provide health-department inspectors with devices that allow them to access PCs, e-forms and portable printers while checking restaurants for compliance with safety standards. Allegiance is now discussing with state officials the possibility of expanding this solution to the entire state of Pennsylvania.

"The prevalence of these kinds of e-government initiatives comes right from the taxpayers--it's a bottom-line cost-savings effort," Hill says. "The cost of a health inspector is around $50,000 per year in salary and benefits. If you can equip the existing staff with mobile devices that allow them to complete an additional inspection each day, the savings add up to real dollars. Inspecting more restaurants in a shorter period of time with more accurate information also better protects the health of citizens."

By now, the image of federal, state and local government workers as 9-to-5ers who remain tethered to a desk is a thing of the past. Government agencies, no matter whom they serve, are constantly on the move. As a result, IT equipment needs to be mobile too--sturdy enough to withstand bumps and bruises on the road, and innovative enough to tap into the home-office system on the fly and feed data to the network in real-time.

"Instead of being on a desktop, the applications are right there on the mobile device," says Bill Hartwell, vice president of government business at Schaumburg, Ill.-based mobile-technology vendor Motorola. "Early on, mobile-computer applications didn't have any wireless capability to simultaneously pass off data. You'd have to collect data in the field all day long, then take it back to the agency's home office and feed it into the network. That's no longer the case, and it's greatly improving the way these agencies work."

While there are no statistics specifically showing that mobile-computing solutions are on the rise among government agencies, solution providers and vendors say rising demand in the private sector is evident: In 2006, more than 24.6 million mobile PCs were sold in the United States; that's double the number sold only three years prior, according to Gartner, a Stamford, Conn.-based industry research firm.

The government customer--a buyer who's getting more tech-savvy with every generation--is a strong contributor to that demand. Face it: Mobile devices rank high on the "cool" meter, and government customers are concluding that they can combine functionality and substance with a bit of flare. As long as these solutions can prove to be a cost-saver for taxpayers in the long haul, the market remains strong, solution providers and vendors say.

"We're seeing the need for these devices in many forms of government," Hill says. "Our entry into the health-department job came from the local director of the county's Aging and Adult Services agency. She was piloting tablets to use at people's homes in getting answers to more than 800 questions to determine when older residents [would] qualify for services."

NEXT: Tales of tablets and Toughbooks