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Colorado's Mesa County serves approximately 125,000 citizens through various departments--animal services, the county attorney, emergency management, facilities and parks, engineering, information management, and finance--to name a few.

From 1990 to 2000, the county's population grew by nearly 25 percent, and the Colorado Department of Local Affairs projects Mesa County's population will grow to 143,591 by 2010 and 224,820 by 2025 -- a 92 percent increase from 2000.

Much of the residential growth is occurring in unincorporated areas of Mesa County's Grand Valley. This results in greater demand for county services and an expanding workload for many Mesa County departments.

Mesa County employees rely on Gateway desktop PCs to perform vital tasks effectively and reliably, said Kelly Leuallen, Mesa County's applications analyst. In 2002, using state bid pricing, the county government began a widespread technology upgrade, and chose to equip more than 800 users with the Gateway� Profile desktop computer.

"Gateway has the best bang for the buck, best product for the dollar," Leuallen said. "They have a very good service rating in the industry, and we wanted uniformity and consistency from year to year with our hardware platform."

Mesa County has trusted in Gateway desktop technology since the early 1990s, which illustrates the reliability of Gateway products.

Another consideration for choosing Gateway and the Profile all-in-one PC was space, Leuallen said. "A lot of desks and work areas were pretty cramped, so this gives an additional boost of space. They look cleaner and more modern."

But the main reason for upgrading desktop technology was strategic--the new Gateway Profile PCs enable the IT department to be more efficient.

"There's now less labor involved in moving, setting up and configuring the units," Leuallen said. "The unit takes up less space than a traditional-style computer."

Less Labor, More Efficient
The Gateway Profile desktop PCs weigh approximately 23 pounds, and the CD-ROM drive, hard drive, floppy drive, display, speakers, motherboard, memory -- everything that would normally be in a desktop system except the keyboard and mouse -- are integrated into a single unit that sits on the desktop. This is much less cumbersome than the traditional CRT monitor and PC tower, which typically weigh 70 pounds or more altogether.

Gateway is the only vendor offering a Windows compatible, all-in-one desktop system. "It's a very unique product," said Leuallen. "Our users love the Gateway Profile PC. And we love them from an IT standpoint because they're small, compact, fewer pieces and lightweight. There are nothing but advantages to having them. It's a really well thought-out product."

The Profile's all-in-one design saves space on users' desks. They also streamline the deployment process, which includes shipping the units from the county IT facility to end-users, unloading the machines and setting them up, he said. "It involves less labor along the whole process. The Gateway Profile PCs are just easier to handle. That allows us to be a lot more efficient."

The IT department also likes the Profile's built-in speakers, which require no additional anchors, cables or power adapters, Leuallen added. "The cabling and the hookup are much more simple than a traditional desktop."

User Satisfaction
Mesa County has deployed Gateway Profile PCs throughout its departments -- including mechanic bays and the county jail, Leuallen said. "These computers fit into every little niche and corner of our operation. We deliver information across the Internet to people; they can look at recorded documents in the Recorder's Office; the DMV issues orders and titles. It's all computerized."

In addition, the latest Profile models are easily repairable by county IT staff should a component fail. Mesa County's IT department performs many of its own warranty repairs, ordering needed parts from Gateway and returning defective components to the company in prepaid shipping containers.