By no means do I have full insight into this but I will tell you what I have seen:
A few departments seem to have ruggidized laptops/notebook computers...The ones I have seen most recently are called "Toughbooks" then have a magnesium alloy case, are mil spec, can get wet, dirty, dropped, etc and so on. They have wireless internet, the most recent one I saw had a touch screen and a removeable screen.
As for software, that's sort of a department level thing. If youa re asking what software should we buy for our department, I have no real clue.