Trucking Technology Alert - Sept. 7
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Both the online report and e-mail are sponsored by @Track Communications, a supplier of wireless communications and dispatch services.
Today's Technology Headlines:
- Wireless Industry Takes Hit From Economic Woes
- Manguistics Warns of 2Q Loss
- Airline Operation Software Maker Eyes Railroads
- Communities Look to Establish Free Networks
Wireless Industry Takes Hit From Economic Woes
The wireless industry is starting to look as wrecked as the technology and telecom industries. Motorola recently warned that its third-quarter revenue would be flat.The company, which blamed slowing wireless equipment sales for its problems, also announced another 2,000 job cuts, bringing the total number of job cuts to 32,000 since the end of last year. Ericsson, the biggest wireless equipment seller in the world, also announced recently that its revenues would be down. Merrill Lynch is predicting that worldwide sales of mobile phones will fall by 5% from last year, to 390 million, and that next year the industry will only be able to sell 410 million units. The wireless industry had previously hoped to sell 500 million cell phones this year. Motorola says it is also experiencing a weaker demand for equipment.
Manguistics Warns of 2Q Loss
Stocks of supply chain software companies fell yesterday after Maryland-based Manugistics warned that its second-quarter forecast had switched to a net loss from a net profit. The company, which blamed order delays and customer uncertainty for its problems, said it expected to suffer an adjusted net loss of 14 cents to 16 cents per diluted share.Manugistics has customers in the transport, technology, aerospace, and retailing industries. It had been thought that supply chain software would be one of the survivors in the technology sector, because investments could witness a very rapid return. According to Kevin O'Marah, research principal at AMR Research, however, suppliers have in part suffered from their own success, selling so much software in the last 24 months that customers have yet to install all of it.
Manugistics' competitors in the supply chain software business, i2 Technologies and Commerce One, also saw the value of their shares decline. Financial Times (09/07/01) P. 31; Moules, Jonathan
It has hired John Gradek, former head of locomotive fleet management for Canadian Pacific, to help develop a cost-saving system for train scheduling. Railroads make assumptions about how many rail cars will be needed to move a given amount of freight and passengers, and try to make sure that the necessary equipment is available at yards to meet the demands. However, this often results in many trains sitting idle because of overestimation.
AD OPT's software will help railroads maximize the use of rolling stock to save costs. National Post (Canada) (09/06/01) P. C05; Gibbens, Robert
Although ISPs are certain to object to this activity - AOL Time Warner's Road Runner service explicitly forbids retransmission - the benefits to the community are worth testing the legal limits of the idea, says Anthony Townsend, co-founder of the NYCwireless group. The idea is to let the public access broadband connections via a Wi-Fi wireless transmission. The signal would be powerful enough to cover a small portion of a busy street, or provide high-speed access to homes surrounding a small school, for example. Activists in Seattle have set up two nodes near bus stops so that residents with wireless-enabled laptops can log on.
Matt Westervelt of SeattleWireless says the goal in each of these cities would be to set up a shared city-wide network so that everyone would be able to access high-speed Internet connections without paying ISP fees. Philadelphia Inquirer (09/06/01) P. F1; Krane, Jim
Airline Operation Software Maker Eyes Railroads
AD OPT Technologies, known for its operational planning software used by major airlines around the world, wants to get involved in the railroad industry.Communities Look to Establish Free Networks
Community minded citizens in New York City and Seattle are advocating setting up shared wireless Internet networks in their metropolitan areas.
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