Jacqueline Emigh

In one of the first IT mergers of 2005, supply-chain vendor Prescient Systems Inc. has been combined with The viaLink Company, a retail and e-commerce technology specialist, to form a new, publicly traded company called PAI (Prescient Applied Intelligence). PAI officials on Monday announced the completion of the stock-for-stock transaction. The new entity will be […]

The supply chain is too large and intricate to fit neatly inside anyones crystal ball. So my predictions for the year ahead fall more along the lines of a kaleidoscope—a series of interrelated yet distinct industry trends. Before looking ahead, lets step back and consider the meaning of “supply chain.” Loosely speaking, the term refers […]

After troubles with its 32-year-old crew-scheduling software spawned huge holiday flight delays, Delta Airlines subsidiary Comair resumed its usual flight schedule in the middle of this week. But Comair is now under the glare of an investigation by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT). Comairs problems began on Christmas Day, when the failure of a […]

There is more to radio-frequency identification than the passive RFID that retailers are looking to deploy. The U.S. Department of Defense, in fact, is testing both types—active and passive—in the same supply chain applications. And some expect that big retailers such as Wal-Mart and Target will ultimately add active RFID to their now emerging passive […]

Supply chain/logistics vendor Manugistics Group Inc. is acting upbeat this week, despite posting a $13.3 million third-quarter loss. In a conference call, officials took verbal swipes at SAP AG and other enterprise resource planning giants while outlining plans around a new development center in India, an RFID consulting practice and a greater emphasis on custom […]

Several months later than originally planned, EPCglobal Inc. ratified its Generation 2 RFID standard, a move thats expected to usher in a new wave of products for meeting RFID mandates in the second half of 2005. But although use of the standard itself is royalty-free, controversy is stirring over whether customers will need to pay […]

To combat terrorism—in addition to billions of dollars annually in cargo theft—the 33-year-old National Cargo Security Council rolled out international expansion plans last week involving a name change and new chapters on other continents. The U.S.-based organization for supply chain security specialists, which will become known as the International Cargo Security Council, or ICSC, early […]

Drained batteries. Blown fuses that “freeze” windshield wipers. Fried diagnostic chips. As cars get more computerized, equipment failures are growing. Emerging auto supply chain standards and federal regulations could help, and IBMs recent entrance into the Automotive Open System Architecture, or Autosar, industry group is a step in the right direction, analysts say. But still, […]

In the increasingly competitive RFID arena, IBM on Thursday will release the first three products from its recently formed $250 million S&A (Sensor & Actuator) arm. The new IBM WebSphere RFID Device Infrastructure and IBM WebSphere RFID Premises Server are specifically geared to RFID. The third new middleware product, IBM WebSphere Remote Server, supports emerging […]

IBM Corp.s plans to sell off its PC business to Chinas Lenovo Group will probably bring an opportunity to nail greater sales in China, according to Jim Schneider, Dell Computer Corp.s senior vice president and chief financial officer. Aside from international PC sales, Schneider cited Dells emerging printer and consumer electronics businesses as other promising […]

The Port Authority of New York & New Jersey lost 75 employee lives, its headquarters in Manhattan, a major data center, Internet connectivity and 2,500 PCs during the September 11, 2001, terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. At a New York trade show this week, an agency security officer spelled out some of the […]

Best Buy Co. Inc., the leading consumer electronics chain in the United States, has launched a phased deployment of supply chain management/logistics software from i2 Technologies. The implementation is still behind the retailers corporate firewall now, but plans call for future rollouts to stores nationwide as well as to product vendors around the world. During […]