UPS deploys next-generation driver computers

UPS deploys next-generation driver computers UPS announced the formal rollout of its fourth-generation handheld computer used by drivers to communicate with dispatchers for routing and to record package pickups and deliveries so that customers can track the status of their packages.
   The Atlanta-based package delivery company has been testing the Delivery Information Acquisition Device, or DIAD IV, for more than a year and plans to hand out 32,000 of the devices in the United States and 8,000 internationally by the end of the year. UPS said it plans to have more than 70,000 devices, developed in conjunction with Symbol Technologies, in use worldwide by the end of 2007.
   The driver computer is one piece in UPS’s massive investment in a new system called Package Flow Technology designed to make package sorting, routing and delivery more efficient.
   DIAD IV can communicate with four different wireless networks:
   * Bluetooth, a short-range radio technology that allows computers and other electronic devices to connect to each other and to the Internet without wires.
   * Local Wi-Fi (wireless fidelity), a protocol for wireless local area networks.
   * Two dominant cellular technologies used in the United States, Europe and Asia.
   The Bluetooth and Wi-FI capabilities allow DIAD to access printers and other devices within a UPS facility or a customer’s personal computer.
   The new driver computers also have embedded global positioning satellite system devices that will give dispatchers the ability to locate the closest driver for an urgent pickup and will help drivers find customer addresses by sounding an alert if they’re in the wrong driveway.
   The new DIAD is smaller and lighter, has a color screen, is easier to use and has 20 times the memory of the previous version. UPS said it will use this extra memory to provide expanded services for customers.
   Earlier this year UPS officials acknowledged some hiccups with the Package Flow Technology system they said would be fixed by training dispatchers better.