COW's=Computers on Wheels, Computers on Walls

We know what WE call our products but what do our customers call them when they are in use? I recently received some results from a poll of nurses, doctors, healthcare IT staff and others about what THEY call our type of products.

One response was Computer on Wall, which really made lots of sense. The computers on wheels (or COW) is a popular option across many facilities. There are, however, some issues with this form of point-of-care computing. Besides the issue of battery life and charging (which usually happens in hallways), carts have a large footprint in a room and are cumbersome to move around all day. Not to mention that most hospitals have dead zones of wireless connectivity. We actually visited a facility that had colored tape on the floor to signify dead zones. With a wall mounted charting desk a network drop can be added to directly wire the CPU to the network.

What we do at Cygnus is take the technology of a cart and put it in a stationary, secure, wall mounted enclosure. Our cabinets become attractive fixtures on the wall, leaving the entire floor unobstructed. So, I guess that Computer on Wall isn't so far off.