Sears buys 10,000 laptops from Spokane based Itronix

One day after announcing a hefty purchase by the U.S. Army, Spokane’s Itronix reported selling 10,000 laptop computers to Sears, Roebuck and Co.

Tom Sowa
Staff writer Spokesman Review

Sears, one of the nation’s major retailers and service providers, chose laptops from Itronix that hold up in extreme conditions, can link to offices from nearly anywhere and carry huge reams of data to answer service questions on the spot.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed Wednesday.

Sears has 13,000 mobile service technicians working across the country. The purchase agreement means Sears crews will carry Itronix laptops on their service runs for most of the next decade.

"We wanted something that was self-sufficient, and the Itronix model provides what we need," Sears spokesman Willy Medina said.

Earlier this week, Itronix CEO Tom Turner announced the company had received an order for Itronix handheld computers from the U.S. Army in a deal worth about $8.5 million. The money will be shared between Itronix and a Virginia software partner, Trident Systems Inc.

The Sears purchase represents a reorder of sorts. Since 1993, Sears has used an earlier Itronix model for many of its service crews. Since then, technology has improved to the point that technicians and service workers now can carry data-rich DVDs on their trips.

"The worker can look and find diagrams and working instructions for nearly any appliance, right there on the laptop," said Medina.

The laptops sold to Sears include software from Wireless Matrix, which allows the service technician to stay in contact through radio or satellite connections nearly all the time, he added.

Turner said the sale helps keep Itronix’s revenue on a pace with last year’s record-setting level of $152 million, which was an increase of 38 percent from the year previous, he said. Based on the first six months of the current fiscal year, Itronix can expect to surpass the $152 million mark in revenue, he said.

•Business reporter Tom Sowa can be reached at (509) 459-5492 or at [email protected]

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