Press Releases    
Tangent News    
News Archive    
Tangent Announces the Rugged Mini -- A New Industrial Strength PC With Radically Lower Power Consumption

Fan-less Solid State Mini PC Provides Power Savings to Healthcare Industry
Burlingame, CA — August 10, 2006 - In hospitals, the computers that are used with point-of-care carts have high power consumption. This causes frequent re-charging, short battery life and premature battery failure. With battery prices over $1,000, battery life and time between re-charges are critical financial and patient care issues.

To solve the high power consumption problem, Tangent Inc., a leading provider of technology solutions for healthcare, education and government markets, has developed a unique mobile computing solution, called the Rugged Mini.

The Rugged Mini has a sleek design, small footprint and is lightweight (9”W x 7”L x 2”H, and less than 4 lb.). This solid state PC is industrial grade with only one moving part, the hard drive. It is fan-less and utilizes a convection-based passive cooling system.

The Rugged Mini significantly extends battery life and reduces time between re-charges. It consumes only six watts in standby mode, 18 watts in the "on" position while idle, (using Intel’s ESS (Enhanced Speed Step)) and 37 watts at 100 percent utilization. This compares to a typical PC using 75-125 watts. In short, it provides a long operating time per charge cycle due to a fan-less, cool running design.

"Power consumption is a big problem with current mobile healthcare computing," noted Douglas Monsour, Tangent’s President. "Medical cart PCs drain so much energy that it’s difficult getting through a shift without re-charging. The Rugged Mini will make it through a shift with plenty of power in reserve. There’s no need to worry about it stopping during critical times."

Tangent’s Rugged Mini is available with Celeron M or Pentium M. The Rugged Mini can be used stand alone in place of a full integrated system. It can be easily wall mounted or attached to a display screen via its mounting flanges.

The Rugged Mini can be used with any of the leading carts, including Flo Healthcare, Ergotron, Stinger Medical and Infologix.

Tangent’s design integrates broad compatibility with current WiFi standards. It uses an industry standard Intel 2915 ABG WiFi card that is Cisco LEAP compatible. It offers a variety of WiFi antenna options. The Rugged Mini also has VGA and DVI output so it can be easily connected to a touch screen or regular LCD monitor.

The Rugged Mini comes pre-loaded with Microsoft Windows XP Pro. Tangent backs the Rugged Mini with a one-year parts and labor warranty and optional one year on-site service. It is available direct from Tangent at www.tangent.com.

About Tangent, Inc. Founded in 1989, Tangent provides technology solutions to education, government, corporate, and healthcare markets. Tangent’s award-winning technology includes desktops, notebooks, wireless labs, thin clients, and servers. Tangent products have earned numerous awards, including eight Editor's Choice awards from PC Magazine.

For more information, contact Mike Zabaneh, 650-342-9388 ext. 2126,
or email mikez@tangent.com.
©2006 Tangent, Inc. All rights reserved. Prices and specifications valid in U.S. only and subject to change without notice. Shipping and taxes are additional. Tangent, the Tangent logo, and Valera are registered trademarks and Pillar and Network Alert are trademarks of Tangent Computer, Inc. Pentium, Intel Inside, and Intel Inside logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries. AMD, the AMD Arrow logo, QuantiSpeed, AMD Athlon and combinations thereof are trademarks of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. Microsoft and Windows are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the U.S. and other countries. Other product names are for identification purposes only and may be trade names of their respective companies.