Trucking Technology Report - Nov. 28
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Today's Technology Headlines:
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SBC, Cisco Bundle Gear, Services
SBC Communications (SBC) and Cisco Systems (CSCO) have agreed to offer data services and equipment to corporate customers. The packaged deals will be discounted 30% from the cost of the services separately.
SBC's data business is experiencing higher growth rates than those of competing regional Bells BellSouth (BLS) and Verizon (VZ). However, data revenue comprises a mere 15% of SBC's total revenue. Investor's Business Daily (11/28/00) P. A2Shippers Brace For E-Commerce
Top U.S. shippers UPS (UPS) and FedEx (FDX) are preparing for the rush of online orders this holiday season. Forrester Research predicts that e-commerce will increase residential deliveries from 2.98 million in 1999 to 6.53 million in 2003.Between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year, UPS alone expects to deliver some 325 million packages. UPS has enlisted IBM to upgrade its delivery tracking system, which allows the company to follow 80% of its 13 million daily deliveries. Online customers of client companies can check on the status of an order by accessing UPS' database.
FedEx is also preparing for growth, recently acquiring American Freightways (AFWY) in order to bolster regional trucking operations. This, plus an expected $100 million investment over three years for ground delivery, is obviously a bid at rival UPS' dominant share of the package delivery market. Investor's Business Daily (11/24/00) P. A5; Tsuruoka, Doug
Revving Up the E-Biz Motor
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) subsidiary Perkins Engine plans to launch on March 30 the first phase of its three-phase e-business initiative. Dubbed Parts Finder, the first phase of the e-business initiative involves converting its 55,000-item, paper- and CD-ROM-based catalog to the XML format, which will allow Perkins and its distributors to update catalogs more easily and, more importantly, support more sophisticated cross-selling schemes.Phase Two of the e-business transformation calls for Perkins to launch its Parts Link supply chain management solution, which will link Perkins with its distributors and OEMs. Last, Phase Three is an ambitious plan to create an online network that will allow Perkins and its suppliers to monitor in real time the performance of its diesel engines running in the field.
"We're using the Internet to allow our distributors and business partners to do a better job of selling related parts and services," says Perkins director and general manager of customer and product support services George Curry, referring to the Parts Finder initiative. For example, if a customer orders an oil filter for an engine, the XML-based Parts Finder system will also suggest that the customer also buy a fuel filter or antifreeze at the same time.
Perkins has no plans to sell its engines directly online, although analysts say the aftermarket, which Parts Finder targets, typically provides a large portion of manufacturing companies' revenues. eWeek (11/20/00) Vol. 17, No. 47, P. 62; Moad, Jeff
Magneto-Optical Disk Format Enters Portable Storage Fray
Sanyo Electric in December will introduce to the Japanese market a digital camera that uses a magneto-optical (MO) disk format as a portable storage medium. The intelligent image + Disk (iD) format enables 730 MB storage capacity on a disk 50 mm in diameter. The iD format stems from the Advanced Storage-Magneto Optical (AS-MO) format, using magnetically induced super resolution technology to focus on a data pit smaller than a laser spot.Sanyo, Hitachi Maxell, and Olympus Optical jointly developed the iD Photo disk to store images taken by the digital camera. The iD format disk will be the least expensive storage medium in terms of cost per MB, claims Hiroshi Ono at Sanyo Multimedia. The camera will be sold overseas beginning in the spring of 2001, Sanyo expects.
The iD format will be going up against other data storage products such as IBM's (IBM) Microdrive, which features first-generation capacity of 340 MB and second-generation capacity of 1 GB. EE Times Online (11/21/00); Hara, Yoshiko
HUD Upgrades Popular E-MAPS Environmental Mapping Service
HUD E-MAPS, the well regarded online mapping tool from the Department of Housing and Urban Development, can now produce maps at a rate of 8,000 per hour. The maps provide environmental and U.S. census data for nearly every area of the United States, from individual neighborhoods to entire states.The site's recent upgrade has expanded the total number of data sets available from the U.S. Census Bureau to 600, while improving the site's usability. Users can now generate maps from multiple data layers simultaneously.
HUD E-MAPS has won acclaim from several media sites, including CNN and ABC.com, as well as Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government. HUD Secretary Andrew Cuomo verifies the site's success - it receives as many as 50,000 visitors each day - saying, "Demand for HUD E-MAPS information has been explosive." Internet.com (11/22/00)
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