Xplore Technologies received a $750K expansion order from one of the nation’s top ten natural gas and electric power utility companies, bringing the value of the multi-year field service mobilisation initiative to more than $3.5M.

These additional XSLATE B10 fully rugged (IP65) tablet PCs and in-vehicle docking solutions will be deployed to the nuclear plant and material logistics groups, among others, to facilitate service dispatch, deliver asset intelligence to infrastructure assessment teams, and improve the efficiency and coordination of repair crew actions.

The B10s are already being used by crews supporting more than ten other operations divisions, including distribution, substation and vegetation management, high pressure gas inspection, and damage locating services.

Xplore president and COO Mark Holleran said: "Over the past three years, we’ve been working with the utility to strategically advance its business goals through the development and deployment of a best-in-class rugged tablet-based mobility solution.

"The fast user acceptance of the XSLATE B10 has enabled the utility to accelerate their project timeline and easily expand the solution to new business units, as is the case with this latest order.

"In turn, the customer has been able to advance its operational cost savings at an impressive rate and meet target efficiency levels near immediately."

The customer chose to standardise on the 2.4lb Intel-powered Windows tablet after it proved in 2016 to provide the right balance of PC power, speed and storage for the field service technicians’ most complex and data-intensive tasks.

XSLATE B10’s reliable performance and connectivity quickly enabled the utility to improve its responsiveness rate and, therefore, improve the overall quality of its electric and gas service, which has resulted in an impressive financial ROI.

The 10.1in tablet was also deemed to be the ideal size to support all the different departments and workflows involved in the mobilsation project, and has provided more than enough rugged protection for field service crews facing the environmental extremities of the utility’s ten-state territory.