Sept/Oct 2005

The UK's Ministry of Defence is replacing a batch of long-serving Symbol handheld computers used for monitoring equipment movements with a new batch from the same manufacturer. The familiar old PDT8100s, which were deployed back in 1997, are being replaced with PDT8800 units -Symbol's current PDA-like colour terminals.

The units are deployed at bases where major assets such as vehicles are stored, and are used to check in and out and monitor the whereabouts of any item valued at £10,000 or more. Some assets are stored under controlled humidity, so the terminals had to meet appropriate criteria for operating climate and robustness.

In many cases the units are operated by members of the Territorial Army, who may be in situ for relatively short periods of time; so ease of use was also high on the Army's list of priorities.

The original PDT8100s were acquired as part of the Ministry's Theatre Inventory General Equipment Register (TIGER), which was launched in 1997 and is said to have saved millions of pounds by tightening up control of the movement of resources into and out of operational zones.

The existing Symbol units have been running under bespoke software developed by Requisoft, a major supplier of solutions for procurement and asset management, which operates extensively in both public and private sectors.