Trucking Technology Report - Aug. 14
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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:
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Verizon Strike Moves Into Second Week
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The unions rejected the company's most recent offer. The unions said major concerns about overtime and workload transfer within the company's service area have yet to be sufficiently handled. Washington Post (08/14/00) P. A6; Srinivasan, Kalpana
Internet Draws Manufacturers Such as Bering Trucks
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Bering, a manufacturer of ergonomically designed truck cabs, uses the Web to connect its South Korea plant with its plant in Front Royal, Va. Thanks to the Internet, Bering enjoys communication and market reach on a global level, and is working to achieve better-scheduled assembly and production lines, improved customer and material tracking, and heightened delivery performance and inventory control.
Procurement is also a draw to e-business, as manufacturers are enticed by the opportunity to bundle purchases, price-compare, and negotiate. Electronic data interchange-based Internet processes boast flexibility and affordability. Supply chain management enabled by the Internet, intranets, and extranets continues to catch on, as companies seek to streamline their end-to-end processes and reduce cost and labor headaches. Virginia Business (08/00) Vol. 15, No. 8, P. 101; Larance, Leigh Anne
Model Forecasts Traffic Congestion
The U.S. Department of Transportation has sponsored and subsidized Transims in its attempt to meet the regulations of the Clean Air Act. Transims, a travel forecasting model developed at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, gives exact information on congestion, traffic, and pollution by replicating traffic patterns and activities in virtual duplicates of specific metropolitan areas.The simulation is based on data taken from household information gathered by the Census Bureau, regional survey data, and local transportation network data. Using this information, the model can appraise the performance of the transportation system and approximate vehicle emissions. The model can also forecast the nature, volume, and location of vehicle emissions, which could help estimate the air quality of a specific region. Civil Engineering (08/00) P. 30
Coax or Copper: Who's Got the Upper Hand?
Despite some analysts' predictions that DSL will beat out cable modems in the long term, cable modems continue to dominate the high-speed market for now. Cahners In-Stat Group forecasts that the number of cable-modem customers will rise from 600,000 in 1998 to 12 million or more in 2003. However, DSL is expected to have 36 million subscribers by 2003, compared to 345,000 in 1998. Computer Economics' estimates put cable modems ahead with 27.6 million subscribers by 2003, compared to 13.8 million customers for DSL.DSL has been boosted by the development of a set of interoperability standards that enable a variety of customer-premise equipment to work with several types of central office switching systems, called DSL access multiplexers. Interoperability is important for new technologies because it eliminates the complexity of deploying the service.
DSL suppliers also have moved to eliminate distance limitations. Typically, DSL service can only travel about 18,000 feet along copper lines. However, service providers are introducing new solutions to resolve this problem. They are employing wireless delivery systems, including multichannel, multipoint distribution service and local multipoint distribution service. Cable modems still have the advantage over DSL in terms of throughput. Basic DSL provides speeds of about 640 Kbps, compared to cable modem speeds of up to 1.5 Mbps. Communications Technology (08/00) Vol. 17, No. 8, P. 110; Cole, Arthur
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