UPS to spend $127M on tri-mode wireless driver terminals

Computerworld - United Parcel Service Inc. plans to spend $127 million over the next five years on global deployment of a new driver terminal that features built-in cellular, wireless LAN and Bluetooth short-range wireless systems.
The DIAD IV driver terminal, a compact, rugged device powered by Windows CE .Net., includes a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver, a bar code scanner and a color screen. The DIAD (or Deliver Information Acquisition Device) IV terminals were manufactured by Symbol Technologies Inc. in Holtsville, N.Y.
Atlanta-based UPS spent $22 million to develop the DIAD IV, which will be used by 70,000 drivers worldwide, according to spokeswoman Donna Barrett.
The new terminal hooks drivers into the UPS worldwide network from a customer's premises, allowing drivers to enter package tracking data into the network without having to walk back to the truck and hook up the terminal to a wireless WAN -- as they have to do with the current system, Barrett said.
The new terminal also confirms deliveries almost instantaneously: Drivers scan the package bar code, collect the receiver's signature electronically, type in the last name of the receiver, push a single key to complete the transaction and distribute the data, UPS said in its announcement.
"This electronic data capture ensures that UPS customers have the most current package tracking information available to them anytime, anywhere," UPS CIO Ken Lacy said in a statement.
Dave Salzman, UPS program manager for information services, said the short-range Bluetooth wireless system in the DIAD IV is designed to communicate with peripheral devices that the company may add in the future, including printers and credit card readers.
UPS also plans to use the Bluetooth system, which operates in the same 2.4-GHz band as 802.11b WLANs built into the DIAD IV, to communicate with customer computers that use UPS shipping software and also have Bluetooth wireless connections, Salzman said. He added that one reason UPS chose the .Net version of the Windows CE operating system from Microsoft Corp. was because it supported XML messaging, which will make it easier for the DIAD IV to communicate with customer PCs.
The built-in 802.11b WLAN system will be used for in-building communications with WLAN systems installed in UPS stations and hubs, Salzman said. In October 2000, UPS detailed plans to install WLANs at all 2,000 of its sorting facilities worldwide (see story).
The DIAD IV, which UPS plans to start deploying next year, replaces the DIAD III. Introduced in 1999 at a cost of $100 million and manufactured by Motorola Inc. in Schaumburg, Ill.