Trucking Technology Report - May 17
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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:
- Intel to Describe New Chip
- Emerging Technologies: Gaining the Wireless Edge
- The New Wireless Cheerleaders? E-Tailers
- What You Need to Know About Supply-Chain Technology
Intel to Describe New Chip
Intel will unveil plans to produce a powerful new chip for wireless devices, including cell phones and handheld computers, at its tech developers conference in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, on Thursday. The chip will feature all three of the main functions of wireless chips--communications, memory, and processing--on one chip.Currently, those three functions must be divided among separate chips, making it difficult for developers to make wireless devices too powerful because the devices would have to be large, unwieldy, and expensive.
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Emerging Technologies: Gaining the Wireless Edge
Jon Prial, director of marketing and strategy at IBM's Pervasive Computing Division, says companies need to emphasize compatibility between technologies and wireless products. In the future, interoperability between wireless devices and other electronic devices is going to become as important as using wireless technology for personal communications, Prial adds.For example, Carrier, a producer of heating, air conditioning, and refrigeration systems, has launched a wireless initiative called Myappliance.com in Britain, Italy, and Greece. The system allows customers to use Web-enabled cell phones to monitor and change settings of their Carrier home air conditioners. However, the users must first connect to Carrier's secure Web site to adjust settings.
The system can also transmit information, such as diagnostic alerts, to customers via their Web phones. Prial says IBM chose to launch the trial with Carrier in Europe, because Europeans see the Internet as more of a business tool than their American counterparts. But Prial acknowledges that the United States is closing in on Europe's lead in wireless applications. Industry Week (05/07/01) Vol. 250, No. 7, P. 13; Teresko, John
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The New Wireless Cheerleaders? E-Tailers
Even as today's innovative Internet technologies and business-to-business e-commerce initiatives come into their own, author Paul Greenberg wonders where and when the wireless Internet will come to America.Greenberg contends that wireless technology has stalled as a result of the massive job losses suffered in the industry when so many dot-coms disappeared. Greenberg predicts consumers would hugely reward e-tailers if they were to give consumers the capability of shopping from cell phones during time otherwise wasted waiting in lines. He says Americans like to remain engaged and busy, yet wireless technology is dragging its heels in comparison to other countries.
The Federal Communications Commission reports that the average American will spend 1.6 hours on wireless Internet services this year, and usage is predicted to increase to only 11.4 hours by 2004. Part of the problem is the lack of practical wireless products beyond stock, sports and weather reports. With e-tailers scampering to pick up every transaction possible, Greenberg feels it is time for e-commerce to aggressively advocate for a wireless market. E-Commerce Times (05/15/01); Greenberg, Paul A.
What You Need to Know About Supply-Chain Technology
Pittiglio Rabin Todd & McGrath director Kevin Keegan estimates that just one in five Fortune 1,000 companies have implemented Web-based supply-chain technology, a strategy that offers significant economic advantage in the face of fluctuating markets.Internet-based supply-chain management allows companies to "gather information and make decisions based on what is actually selling, with a snap of a finger, as opposed to philosophizing and assuming," notes Nygard International owner Peter Nygard. AMR Research projects that corporate spending on supply-chain software and its implementation this year will grow 45 & over last year, reaching a total of $7.8 billion; the firm further predicts that such spending will almost be on a par with enterprise resource planning expenditures by 2004.
Accenture partner Nerendra Mulani advises businesses to train their staff to work with the technology, otherwise the supply-chain data will not flow properly. eCompany Now (05/01) Vol. 2, No. 4, P. 82; Mount, Ian; Caulfield, Brian
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