A mobile job allocation system called XpressNet for same-day carriers has been launched by Deltion, a solutions business specialising in job booking and carrier management applications.

There are two components to the system. Customers place orders directly on the Internet, and these are then picked up on the carrier's system and assigned to vehicles via a GPRS wireless connection, appearing as job offers on the individual driver's PDA. The driver can accept or reject the request.

The mobile system includes signature capture and proof of delivery handling. Users pay a monthly fee which includes PDA rental, the order management system, online track and trace, and subscription to the mobile phone line provider. GPS vehicle tracking is available as an option. The service is hosted on IBM servers running Linux, using an Oracle database.

Deltion was formed last year, and in November secured £250,000 in venture capital investment from the Capital Fund, the Regional Venture Capital Fund for London. It also has £228,000 of management investment.