(EMAILWIRE.COM, February 18, 2003 ) NEC Solutions (America), Inc., a leading provider of business solutions and services for the high-end commercial and professional markets in North America, today announced availability of the NEC Versa LitePad™, the industry's thinnest and lightest Tablet PC. The Versa LitePad offers mobile users a totally new means of communication with a new "digital paper" platform for the enterprise market.

Engineered to combine the natural convenience of pen-based computing with the productivity advantages of Microsoft's new Windows XP Tablet PC Edition operating system, the Versa LitePad represents a new generation of "pure" Tablet-based computing solutions for grab-and-go professionals in vertical markets like healthcare, field sales and professional services where users require a solution that's easy to use in a variety of mobile environments. In addition, NEC has equipped the Versa LitePad with customized software and powerful new business applications aimed at helping companies reduce training time and increasing productivity.

Thinnest, Lightest Tablet PC

With its sleek shape, silver magnesium casing and "slate" blue color the Versa LitePad is perfect for executives who require a professional and functional device in board meetings, but has the thin and light form factor for field mobile users. It has an ultra slim profile of 11.7-inches long by .6-inches thick and is a feather-light 2.2 pounds1 - lighter than any other slate Tablet PC on the market today and designed for extreme mobility. A primary feature of the Versa LitePad is its 10.4-inch wide-angle display, which allows a user to interact with the product like it was "digital paper," electronically capturing handwritten notes and radically simplifying daily business collaborations. Its innovative form factor allows professionals to use the system in places where traditional desktops and notebooks are not practical.

"With the Versa LitePad, we are capturing the natural, intuitive form of using pen and paper and applying that familiarity into a mobile solution that creates a computing experience unlike any product on the market today. There is now a solution available that by virtue of its design, is extremely easy to use, easy to carry and easy to support," said Larry Miller, vice president and general manager, Mobile Solutions Division of NEC Solutions America. "The vision of NEC Solutions America is to provide a solution for the enterprise market that will offer a tool designed to lower costs and productivity downtime, but increase overall ROI for the mobile user and company's bottom line."

Engineered for the Extended Enterprise

The Versa LitePad enables several new enterprise and vertical market applications and is being sold into select horizontal and vertical markets, including healthcare and pharmaceuticals, retail and manufacturing and field force automation. The Versa LitePad is ideally suited for organizations looking to replace their traditional paper-based clipboard systems with a mobile solution that can drastically simplify business collaborations, field data collection and improve communications with remote employees.

For example, in the healthcare market, pharmaceutical sales teams can use the Versa LitePad for capturing patient data, or for tracking hospital visits and sharing clinical studies. Likewise, mobile workers in the professional services market, such as on-site insurance claims adjustors can use the Versa LitePad for inspecting customer claims and wirelessly accessing policy information and data from the corporate server.

The Perfect Blend of Hardware & Software for the Mobile User

The Versa LitePad ships equipped with an Intel® Ultra-Low-Voltage Mobile Pentium® III Processor at 933MHz-M with 256MB2 memory to maximize performance. In addition, recognizing the need to balance performance with extreme mobility, NEC engineered the Versa LitePad with integrated both Wireless LAN 802.11b and 802.11a to provide ultimate connectivity, plus a traditional built-in Mini PCI LAN for fast connections to both wired and wireless networks.

The Versa LitePad ships with several third-party productivity applications pre-bundled, including:

Adobe® Acrobat® Reader® Version 5.0 (PDF document reader)
Alias/Wavefront™ SketchBook Pro™ (sketchbook software)
Colligo™ Networks Personal Edition (Peer-to Peer WLAN connection utility)
Corel® Grafigo™ (annotation and design software)
FranklinCovey® TabletPlanner™ (personal organizer and time management)
Microsoft Office XP Service Pack for Tablet PC
Zinio Reader (eBook software)
"Colligo's unique peer-to-peer 'instant network' solutions leverage the built-in WLAN capabilities of the highly mobile Tablet PC form factor by directly connecting users immediately out of the box," said Barry Jinks, president and CEO at Colligo Networks. "Having our applications included with the NEC Versa LitePad validates the need for on-the-fly messaging, data exchange, and resource sharing for individuals on the go."

Microsoft Windows XP Tablet PC Edition

Microsoft Windows XP Tablet PC Edition is an advanced new operating system that integrates pen-based features and enables Windows XP-compatible applications to take advantage of various input modes, such as pen- and voice-based data. With Microsoft Windows XP Tablet PC Edition, mobile professionals can easily complete common business tasks such as checking e-mail, accessing electronic files, taking handwritten notes, annotating documents, or quickly and accurately entering data anywhere.

Availability & Pricing

The Versa LitePad is available now through select resellers, including Amazon, CDW and PC Connection with standard configurations starting at $2,399 (U.S.).3

About NEC Solutions America, Mobile Solutions Division

Mobile Solutions is a division of NEC Solutions (America), Inc., a leading provider of business solutions and services for the high-end commercial and professional markets in North America. Mobile Solutions offers unique mobile computing hardware and solutions to the enterprise market and combines best-in-breed software and services with world-class hardware to deliver complete solutions to targeted commercial market segments. For more information about Mobile Solutions, please go to www.necsolutions-am.com/mobilesolutions or contact (888) 632-8701.

1 Weight without external drives.
2 If upgrading after initial purchase, the memory module provided with the system will have to be replaced with an optional larger memory module in order to achieve the maximum capacity.
3 Prices are subject to change without notice. Prices do not include tax or shipping. Reseller prices may vary.

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Produced for NEC

Contacts:

Shelly Greenhalgh
Mobile Solutions Division
(408) 844-1142
shelly.greenhalgh@necsam.com

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Contact Information:
NEC Computers Inc.
Joseph Nchor
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