Dell Unveils Latitude ST Tablet For Enterprise, Health-Care, Schools

The Latitude ST, powered by Intel Atom CPUs, is a Windows 7 professional tablet with a 10-inch multi-touch display.

The device, which weighs in at slightly under two pounds and has a battery-life of approximately six hours, boasts on-the-go collaborative capabilities, including front and rear web cams, an embedded microphone and Skype video conferencing.

The Latitude ST is being touted as a business user's tablet primarily because of its security model. According to Kirk Schell, executive director and general manager, Dell Business Product Group, IT administrators can manage the Latitude ST just as they would any other PC within their corporate network through the use of existing remote management solutions or Dell KACE appliances.

Secured data can be ensured with Dell Data Protection/Encryption, optional TPM (Trusted Platform Module), BitLocker encryption and added theft protection from the Kensington lock slot. What’s more, the tablet can be integrated with desktop virtualization solutions to securely access data from any location.

Apart from corporate use, the Latitude ST tablet is tailored specifically toward users within schools and health-care facilities, as the device can be fully integrated with Dell’s Connected Classroom, Electronic Medical Records, and Mobile Clinical Computing solutions.

The release of the Latitude ST will grow Dell’s current partner base. The organization already has software certification processes in the works with "select software partners."

After the product has launched, Dell will be offering certification on education software from Blio, Dyknow, LanSchool and Texas Instruments. On the health-care side, Dell will work with Continua Healthcare Alliance, Athena Health, and NextGen Healthcare.

According to Schell, partner expansion won’t end there. "We’re working on partnerships with many more to ensure users never skip a beat using their familiar business applications," he wrote in his Direct2Dell blog. Direct2Dell blog.

The Latitude ST Tablet will be available starting on November 1st at 759 dollars.