Panasonic Solutions Co. has announced plans to deliver an enterprise-grade Android Toughbook tablet in the fourth quarter. The new Toughbook tablet will be available to a wide variety of users, including mission critical government personnel, highly mobile field forces, SMB's looking for a competitive edge, security conscious IT managers and bottom-line focused CFOs.

"Enterprise customers are very interested in the tablet market, but have been frustrated by the lack of appropriate solutions," according to Rance Poehler, Panasonic's president. "The vast majority of tablet devices, regardless of the OS, are engineered for consumers and don't offer appropriate levels of security and durability. Our Toughbook tablet will be designed and constructed with the mission-critical mobile user in mind."

From a functionality standpoint, the Toughbook tablet will avoid the typical glossy screens found on current tablet offerings that are all but unreadable in outdoor environments. The Toughbook tablet will include a high brightness, daylight viewable screen so mobile, public safety workers can easily see critical data and operate the device regardless of lighting conditions. The new tablet will also include an active stylus, allowing mobile workers in sales, customer service and mobile point-of-sale environments to capture signatures on the device's 10.1-inch XGA multi-touch display.

Other features to be offered on the Toughbook tablet include satellite-based GPS, full-shift battery life, professional-grade accessories and optional embedded 3G/4G mobile broadband connectivity.