Products We Love At XChange Government Integrator '08

Focus On The Public Sector Market

Education and state and local government customers have a wide variety of specific needs, and vendors including Panasonic, Fujitsu and Intermec came with their most cutting-edge notebook computers, projectors and RFID technologies. The show also brought to the forefront a handful of emerging vendors with niche technologies that were just plain cool.

Anoto's Digital Pen And Paper

Anoto came to show off its Digital Pen and Paper technology and how it could be used for government or healthcare customers. The solution has two parts: a special pen with a camera inside and paper with a nearly-invisible dot pattern that the camera reads to distinguish how it has been moved of the surface of the paper.

Here, the company representative demonstrates how a user would write on a simple form that has been printed on the dotted paper. As ChannelWeb is headquartered in New York, he mistakenly assumed I was a Yankees fan and attempted to taunt me.

From Paper To Computer

With Anoto, information stored on the pen can be transferred to a computer via a docking station, and the information hand-written on the forms is translated into a digital image. The system can also be configured to translate the hand-written text into digital text or to transfer it into databases.

One of the company's customers has been able to use the digital pen technology to streamline medical record keeping. While a nurse simply fills in a form in the patient's chart, the pen is able to feed that information into a digital record that can help healthcare providers stay on top of patient care while reducing paperwork.

Panasonic PT-DW100000U Projector

Back in its demo room, Panasonic showed off its 10,000 lumen Full-HD DLP system projector, projecting scenes from a film directly onto the hotel room's dark brown wall in full color.

Intermec CN3e Mobile Computer

Intermec brought along a computer barely bigger than an iPhone. Fully rugged, Intermec designed the CN3e for transportation, field service and logistics applications.

The CN3e has integrated GPS, 3G WAN, a 2.0 megapixel color camera and Bluetooth. It's also voice-navigation capable. The computer runs on Microsoft Windows and in this photo, the user is manipulating an Excel spreadsheet.

Intermec's CK61 Mobile Computer

The CK61 showed of the high-end of Intermec's mobile computers. With a magnesium top cover and rubber corners, the CK61 is designed to withstand abuse. It runs Microsoft's Windows CE 5.0 or Mobile 5.0 operating system and has a touch-screen and RFID scanner.

Intermec's Scanner

Intermec shows off the scanner on the CK61, capable of long-range information capture.

Fujitsu LifeBook U810 Mini-Notebook

Small was in on the XChange Government Integrator show floor. Fujitsu brought its latest mini-notebook, the U810 with a 5.6-inch diagonal touch screen. Weighing in at 1.56 lbs, it runs on an Intel A110 processor with Windows Vista.

And proving size don't mean a thing, this mini-wonder has a 60 GB hard drive with 1 GB SDRAM and wireless connectivity.

Fujitsu LifeBook P1620 Notebook

Fujitsu also brought along its slightly larger LifeBook P1620 tablet PC.

With an Intel Core 2 Duo processor, this little thing runs Microsoft Windows XP or Vista and can be configured with a hard drive of up to 80 GB. This photo doesn't do justice to the sharp color of the 8.9-inch touchscreen display.

Panasonic CF-U1

Panasonic teased us with this mock-up of its forthcoming CF-U1 ultra-mobile PC.

Expected this fall, the CF-U1 will have a 5.6-inch touch screen, Intel's Atom processor and Microsoft Windows Vista.

This one was remarkably heavy, as it was made of wood. Panasonic promises the actual CF-U1 will weigh less.

Panasonic ToughBooks

Panasonic also brought along its fully rugged line of ToughBook notebook computers.

These represent the high end with the 13.3-inch ToughBook 30 and the 10.4-inch Toughbook 19.

Both of these came with a full magnesium alloy case, are vibration and drop resistant, are sealed against the elements and feature daylight-readable displays.

Rugged ToughBooks

Panasonic showed off its "business-rugged" ToughBook W7 (12.1-inch) and Y7 (14.1-inch) notebooks.

While it may appear sleek, with its shiny surface, these have magnesium alloy cases, shock mounted hard drives and built-in DVD MULTI drives that can withstand being knocked to the ground. As Panasonic demonstrated. Repeatedly.

Moving ON

In spite of my best efforts, the ToughBook 19 lost interest in me, captivated by the projectors in the distance.