Ruggedized Computer

A computer whose physical design is sufficiently robust to survive being dropped, immersed in water, static discharge, nuclear war, use by wife and kids, etc.

In other words, it was designed for FaultTolerance?

No, on second thought, actually not. Ruggedness implies FaultAvoidance?, not FaultTolerance. FaultTolerance is all about detecting that a fault has occurred, and coping with it so that operations can proceed normally. Ruggedness is all about surviving harsh conditions without faulting in the first place.

Dropping the hardware isn't really a fault though. It's more like an invalid input. (See RoofTesting.)

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FaultTolerance implies redundancy so that a failure of any single component will not kill the system. Many so-called fault-tolerant systems only provide redundant power supplies and RAID drives. True fault-tolerance requires multiple processor boards, controller boards, etc. Banks are prime customers of fault-tolerant systems.

A ruggedized computer, on the other hand, simply implies a higher level of robustness than the typical clone office computer. There are extremely rugged computers that are waterproof, battle proof, etc., but that is a small subset of the genre RuggedizedComputer. Enhancements include the ability to be rack mounted (19" EIA rack), more fans (with corresponding more noise), air filters, thicker steel construction, shock protection for components.

-- DavidLippincott