The Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet 2 is exactly what businesses need to merge mobile and desktop and take advantage of the shifting trends in computer technology. According to Gartner, worldwide tablet shipments are forecast to total 197 million units in 2013. This is a significant 69.8% increase from 2012 shipments of 116 million units.
"The tablet market is undergoing phenomenal growth," says Mark Campbell, Lenovo GM at Tarsus. "There is also a clear shift from a consumer focus to a business one, as more users take their tablets into the work environment. This is being driven by improvements across design, interface, apps and cost. The bring your own device (BYOD) phenomenon, if you will."
The Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet 2 is powered by the increasingly popular Windows 8 operating system, which offers a stable and versatile interface. Users can use this platform to handle the demands of work and play, without seeing a marked decrease in overall tablet performance. This is the first tablet to offer Windows 8 to the mobile workplace and is likely to be the forerunner of a growing global trend.
Not only does this tablet offer a variety of features to support both consumer and business use, it also has been designed to cope with the security demands of the BYOD challenge. This tablet can run business and ERP applications within Windows 8; in fact, it is capable of running almost anything that you would normally find on a notebook or desktop. This level of adaptability makes the Lenovo exceptionally capable and versatile.
"Most tablets have not included the levels of network security, encryption and remote management capabilities that network managers demand," explains Campbell. "Company information is at risk as users take their own, unsecured devices into the work space without realising that data is now sitting in the public space and can be used by criminals for commercial gain."
Lenovo is one of the few vendors to take this internationally recognised issue and create a product that meets a growing need.
"The ThinkPad Tablet 2 is an agile beast as it has enterprise-level security built in," says Campbell. "This tablet has TAA Compliant configuration, Trusted Platform Module (TPM), AES 256 Encryption, FIPS 1402-2 cryptography and Bitlocker Full Drive encryption. And the user doesn't need to be an expert in these technologies to benefit from them either."
The ThinkPad 2 has been designed to look sturdy, reliable and robust, and will not look out of place either in the office or the home. The 10-inch screen has a 1 266 x 768 resolution and you also get two cameras, speakers, wireless capability, Bluetooth and GPS, plenty of connectivity, and 64GB of onboard storage. Not bad for a device that weighs in at a tidy 0.6kg.
"The Lenovo is compatible with a specially designed dock that has connections for monitors, Ethernet networks, keyboards, mice and other essential USB peripherals," adds Campbell. "Users won't even notice they are not working on a PC until they unhook the tablet and take it with them, and then they have all the applications and data with them, on the move."
Adding to the plethora of features, Lenovo has also remembered that users need a decent battery life and the ThinkPad 2 supports at least 10 hours' of regular usage, which is plenty for work and play. It has been designed to be light, easy to use and flexible enough to handle the needs of the user, regardless of the environment. And the hefty battery life means no sudden loss of valuable data or hard work when you need it the least.
"The Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet 2 feels like the future has finally arrived," concludes Campbell. "It's about time that the business user's needs were more clearly recognised and a device was released that met both their security and functionality requirements."
Sources: Gartner - [http://www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/2408515]
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Tarsus Technologies
With more than 28 years' of experience in the ICT industry, Tarsus is the leading value-added distributor in South Africa, specialising in the supply of the world's foremost PC and peripheral hardware brands to the local reseller channel.
Tarsus strives to meet the channel's needs for credit funding, stock availability and efficient logistics, ensuring that resellers are able to deliver the highest quality service to their customers, focus on support and compile the best overall solutions for their end-user customer base at the lowest possible cost.
The company prides itself on its flexibility, adaptability, knowledge, skills and successful track record combined with an industry-leading ability to manage large rollouts.
With its strong commitment to the southern African channel, Tarsus is able to not only make the reseller channel more efficient, but more importantly, it plays a vital role in dramatically reducing the costs of doing business in the local ICT market.
Tarsus distributes a range of products from the world's leading manufacturers, including Acer, AOC, APC, ASUS, BlackBerry Enterprise Server, Cisco, Dell, Eaton, HP, Kaspersky, Lenovo, Microsoft, Netgear, OKI, Onyx, Port Designs, Riverbed, Samsung and Symantec.
Tarsus' head office is situated in Johannesburg with branches in Cape Town, KwaZulu-Natal, Port Elizabeth, Bloemfontein and Nelspruit. Tarsus has also extended its footprint into Africa with branches in Namibia, Botswana and Mauritius.
More information about Tarsus is available at: http://www.tarsus.co.za.
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