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RuggON case study: Montebello Fire Department
How the Montebello, CA, Fire Department chose RuggON vehicle mount computers for more reliable and more efficient operation in their mission to serve the community and save lives.
Contributed by RuggON Corporation
The RuggON VX-601 is a very reliable rugged vehicle mount solution we have used in recent years" the Captain said, "unlike other brands' rugged vehicle mount solutions, the RuggON VX-601's touch panel and programmable buttons still remain highly responsive after two years of use, which saves much effort and gives great peace of mind to my fire fighters."
Organization Background
Formed in 1922, the Montebello Fire Department has been serving the City of Montebello in Southern California with courage and commitment in protecting public safety and property for almost a century.
The department's mission is to provide efficient and effective life safety, property conservation and environment protection to the community through control of fire, rescue and emergency services, fire prevention, emergency preparedness, and mitigation of hazardous materials incidents. This commitment is intended to safeguard the general economy, and welfare of the citizens of Montebello.
Faced with increasingly varied and complex deployment demands, the Montebello Fire Department realized that their aging legacy in-vehicle notebook and Box PC PC computing equipment needed replacement with more modern systems.
After researching available options and extensive field trials, the fire department decide to purchase RuggON VX-601 vehicle mount computers for use on in its fire engines.
Challenges
In its evaluation of their existing systems, the Montebello Fire Department identified two challenges that increasingly affected their operations.
One was that the performance and responsiveness of their legacy in-vehicle notebook PCs and Box PCs with attached monitors was no longer sufficient to get the job done. Still running outdated OS and software, the worn and aging devices became increasingly hard to operate. Unresponsive or failing touch panels made for inefficient operation in the department's time-critical missions.
The other reason was that the existing systems simply no longer filled the department's needs. The notebook PCs did not have a true COM port to communicate with external GPS. The display size was too small for firefighters to safely and easily read routing directions, dispatch messages and and other crucial information. The displays were not bright enough for easy daylight reading. The integrated keyboard on the notebook PCs took took up too much space in department vehicles operated by fire fighters wearing all their protection gear and equipment.
Why RuggON?
The Montebello Fire Department chose the RuggON VX-601 vehicle mount computer for a variety of reasons:
- Its very bright 1200-nit display that keeps the screen viewable and readable under all lighting conditions.
- The highly responsive touch panel makes data input easy and reliable even under difficult conditions.
- Nine programmable and shiftable hardware buttons allow rapid response to commands and one-press access important functions.
- The native RS232 and RS232/422/485 COM ports support communication with various devices and peripherals, making the fire engine an ad-hoc hub for deploying and dispatching resources.
- The hardware's all-in-one design, 12-inch panel, and nearly indestructible ADC-12 die-cast aluminum alloy construction fulfill all department demands.
- In addition, the RuggON VX-601 is fully compatible with the department's existing CAD system and also allows for system upgrades to include 4G LTE/FireNet mobile broadband connectivity.
The department also found the VX-601 to be functional and user-friendly, and its compact, well-designed enclosure easy to be mounted in the vehicles. Upon installation, the RuggON VX-601 also proved its ruggedness and reliability: no issues have arisen over the two years since initial installation.
Benefits
 Since its initial installation, the RuggON VX-601 has delivered impressive quality, operation and performance in a compact all-in-one design.
Its compact size and mounting options have given fire fighters more space in the cabin as well as more comfortable and convenient operation throughout their missions.
The highly responsive touch screen has made for error-free and much quicker information retrieval from the CAD system and other software.
The department also liked the RuggON VX-601's WWAN upgrade feature and its 4G LTE/FireNet connectivity benefits, making the VX-601 an ideal future-proof investment for budget-tight fire departments.
RuggON, with decades of ruggedized mobile solution expertise strives to improve productivity in harsh environments. Our dedicated engineering team is missioned to deliver devices with exceptional value & quality to improve user experience, we are keen to understand the different demands in each unique industry to provide application oriented & tailored solutions that are most efficient and yet effective.
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