Solving Technical Challenges for Defense Logistics

Durabook is a leading manufacturer of rugged computing solutions, including laptops and mobile tablets. With a loyal customer base including most branches of the U.S. Armed Forces, public safety agencies, field service organizations, and companies in oil & gas, logistics, healthcare, utilities, and automotive industries. For more than 15 years, Durabook Federal has supported key United States Air Force programs by providing purpose-built rugged computing solutions tailored to the unique challenges of flightline diagnostics and maintenance work. When the US Air Force was facing an unresolved technical issue affecting their logistics systems, Durabook approached Anovium to act as their strategic partner in uncovering and implementing a solution.

The US Air Force had been facing a technical issue that remained unresolved for over a year, despite the involvement of several large teams. They were unable to successfully integrate mobile barcode scanning capabilities with critical logistics workflows, creating a significant obstacle in their supply chain operations. The root cause of the problem remained unidentified, creating a significant obstacle in providing a solution. This technical mystery needed to be solved to fulfill critical requisition requirements.

The complexity of the problem was compounded by involvement of multiple organizational stakeholders, access restrictions to certain system components, and limited documentation of closed, proprietary systems and previous solution attempts.

Our approach focused on systematic problem-solving and thorough investigation. We implemented a comprehensive strategy that included:

1. Context Discovery We established a comprehensive problem framework, identifying operational requirements and system constraints through stakeholder interviews and documentation analysis.

2. Hands-on Research Our team conducted methodical hands-on assessment, isolating potential failure points and identifying component interaction issues that previous approaches had missed.

3. Test Development We designed a systematic testing framework that could be executed by USAF personnel, providing clear validation steps and results documentation.

4. Remote Guidance Working closely with component manufacturers and USAF staff who had privileged access to certain systems, we provided remote guidance to gather additional context, direct firmware redesign, and verify solutions.

Through our strategic implementation approach, we successfully resolved the technical issue that had impeded progress for over a year. Our solution enabled Durabook's U11 rugged tablets to integrate seamlessly with the Air Force's proprietary logistics use cases, transforming what had been an intractable technical obstacle into a fully operational system. This breakthrough enabled Durabook to provide devices that met unique system constraints and created a path toward vendor diversity in a critical system that had experienced unnecessary hardware dependency.

The success of this project is a testament of our ability to:

• Tackle complex technical challenges in secure systems
• Work effectively with multiple stakeholders across organizational and geographical boundaries
• Navigate privileged operating environments with security constraints
• Deliver solutions to long-standing problems other teams couldn't resolve
• Bridge the gap between operational and hardware requirements and technical implementation