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24/7 Notebook Power?
RobPiano asks: "Help! I am working at a health care facility that may be expanding its network to have eight Fujitsu wireless notebooks. These notebooks would be required to run nearly 24/7 with minimum downtime. Unfortunately, charging and replacing lithium-ion batteries is expensive, and cost is definitely an issue. The notebooks are placed on carts, so an 'on-cart power supply' is an option, but having it plugged in is not. I considered a car battery, but most of the nurses would have trouble pushing both cart and battery. How have you readers kept your systems powered?"
Having worked in a hospital setting and knowning what problem you about to have the battery life of you laptop is going to be the smallest problem with what you are about to try to do.
Anyway, problem at hand. I know how hospitals are about money, your not solving a problem you are the problem. Damn money pit that IT group is but you going to have to ask for more money and I will supply why.
#1. You can't do the "recarge" batterys and replace them schtick because laptops are frail little things and you know they will break with repeated switching of batteries within the month. Look who your going to be giving them to and really ask your self this question. Will they break them and how fast. Yep, your going to need backup systems, and at least 3 of them at any given time.
#2. My guess is your best bet is going to be to get some kind of tablet computer "Mira" would be and example. Or a small CE device, something that has low power consumption that will last at least 4 hours. That is a basic shift. What ever software your trying to run get it for Citrix and ICA client them in over a wireless backbone. Remember that HIPPA is coming soon, your going to need to get the specs on your wireless, encyrption, etc..don't get left holding the bag on the HIPPA restrictions. Bring them up now!
We did a wireless CE to citrix solution using arrowpoint switches. These handhelds had light pens to scan the patients to pull med records. Again I stress security, wireless--medical records...you see my point about your battery life not being your only concern.
I wish you the best of luck, Doctors and computers are about the hardest thing in the world to get to work together. If you say it is for the nurse, well then it is for the doctor. Believe it. Anyway, good luck.
Neck_of_the_Woods
#/usr/local/surf/glassy/overhead
So they _might_ be adding eight laptops to the equipment. What are they going to be used for? Tracking patient data? Inventory lists? What kind of cart are they going to be on? Of course they need to be 24/7, hospitals are open 24/7, but are these things going to be "mission critical"?
You might want to reconsider the type of hardware you're going to be using if you can fit it in. A few Palm handhelds, bluetooth addons, and creative programming could get you the uptime and functionality you need from these things.
In mathematics, one does not understand things, one merely gets used to them.
--VonNeumann
I have to agree... This smacks of a poorly designed solution. We're missing a big piece of the puzzle: What application is being deployed. Instead of presenting the solution and asking how to do something impossible (keep a laptop battery permanently charged and mobile without plugging it into a AC wall socket) it would have been better to explain what application they're trying to use. Here are some questions that I would ask:
1) Are roving notebook PCs really the best option? I don't see why a stationary terminal couldn't accomplish the same task.
2)Does the vendor of this application recommend wireless LAN in a hospital setting? (AFAIK, cell phones and two-way pagers have to be turned off in a hospital because the transmitters in those devices can interfere with medical equipment.)
3) What kind of application requires that the client be permanently available? If data storage or network resources need to be retreived from the client, shouldn't they be stored on a central server rather than a bunch of roving laptops?
I suspect that the roving laptop solution was selected based on cost. The biggest obstacle that I see when designing a IT solution to a particular problem is budgeting. The fact of the matter is that if the money available for a solution will only allow you to implement a half-assed solution, then the project shouldn't be done. If financial contraints prevent the job from being done right, don't waste that money on the project. Instead push back for more funds, and if they aren't available, wait unit the next budget cycle. Truly, if the project is so necessary that it can't wait for another budget, then the project will have to be a priority and funds will have to be allocated from the current resources.
If Happy Fun Ball begins to smoke, get away immediately. Seek shelter and cover head.
A simple choice would be Mac iBooks: they are reasonably cheap, allow on-the-fly battery changes, and have decent battery life.
With the dual battery option, you could have a custom desktop accessory to warn you when one battery is empty, giving you still a few more hours of usage out of the other.
The notebooks are placed on carts, so an 'on-cart power supply' is an option, but having it plugged in is not.
Do the same thing malls have done for years with security golf carts: buy twice as many laptops as you need, and rotate them out of duty every 12 hours (or less). That way, the equipment isn't under constant wear, plus you have spares for emergency repairs, and you can do maintenance. (How else do you plan on applying patches and upgrades when you only have exactly enough to keep in constant use?) Unfortunately, charging and replacing lithium-ion batteries is expensive, and cost is definitely an issue.
Ask your supervisors if they would only keep on hand exactly the number of scalpels they think they would need - or if they would have enough to clean them and repair them, and not have to worry about surgeons running from OR to OR looking for a spare scalpel.
What's your damage, Heather?