UPS Technology Facts

• UPS uses an IBM DB2 database (at 18.41Tbytes, one of the largest known databases in the world).

• UPS, which delivers 13.6 million documents and packages every day, recently rolled out a new GPRS-based version of its delivery information acquisition device (Diad) to drivers across its UK and German operations.The Diads, which were designed by a subsidiary research and development company at UPS, are based on Motorola processors with Symbol scanner units and LCD screens from Hitachi.

• Bob Nonneman, industrial engineer manager at UPS, has concluded that much progress needs to be made before radio-frequency identification sees widespread industry adoption. Still, Nonneman is optimistic that EPCGlobal's new Generation 2 standard will be a step in the right direction.