May/June 2005

Express parcels giant UPS is changing its pioneering barcode scanning and DIAD drivers' handheld computer system to a completely wireless system built round Palm handheld terminals.

"We need reliability," Andreas Topp, technology marketing manager Europe, said when describing the system at a telematics conference in Amsterdam. "If our system crashes for a day, we lose details of 40 million packages. Shippers want to know when things go wrong; visibility is very important and we cannot afford to lose that.

DIAD IV will comprise industrial-sized Palm handhelds incorporating a range of connectivity technology such as GPRS, GPS, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and infra-red.

The 70,000 Palm units, which will be in place by the end of 2007, will have colour screens and twenty times more memory than previously. UPS estimates it will reduce repair costs by 30 per cent and realise a 35 per cent reduction in the need for spare equipment.