Enterprise Wireless in Action

UPS all wrapped up in wireless | CNET News.com

CNET News has an interesting article about UPS’ new wireless device, which boasts an impressive SIX flavors of wireless connection in a single integrated package with enough battery life to last an entire day in the big brown truck. I have always been impressed by the way in which UPS has actually integrated wireless into its business operations. It shouldn’t be too surprising that a company whose business is all about logistics, speed, and efficiency would be one of the leading companies in the enterprise wireless space.

There have been a number of interesting articles about UPS and its push to deploy Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, including another article posted by CNET News a few months back. In that article, the author describes a pretty interesting setup whereby workers use Bluetooth to get data from a package and transfer it to a radio that then uses a Wi-Fi uplink to route the data to the main asset tracking infrastructure.

If this new product works as advertised, it shows what UPS might be thinking about for the future of logistics; a scanning device that is capable of making use of the best wireless (or combination of wireless) network(s) available to get data into the tracking system as quickly as possible.

Also, this product announcement reinforces my belief that it will be enterprises that can really derive tangible bottom line benefits from wireless and that are willing to invest money in the business process modifications required to reap those benefits that will drive the adoption of wireless for enterprises.