DC Velocity - December 2018

22 DC VELOCITY DECEMBER 2018 www.dcvelocity.com newsworthy

Paragon Software Systems Inc., a company offering
in-vehicle routing and scheduling optimization solu-
tions, has opened an office in Manchester, N.H., to
better serve the Northeast U.S. … Family-owned global
logistics company Dachser has relocated its Miami-area
regional head office to Plantation, Fla. … Transplace,
a provider of transportation management services
and logistics technology, has acquired Yusen Logistics
(Americas) Inc.’s intermodal marketing company/over-
the-road freight brokerage group. … UPS has taken
full occupancy of a 207,000-square-foot spec industrial
building in Davenport, Fla., where the company will cre-
ate new routes for last-mile delivery throughout Central
Florida. … Penske Truck Leasing has updated its Penske
Driver mobile app to make it easier for drivers to obtain
roadside assistance. When truckers encounter an unex-
pected roadside issue, they can use the app to report the
problem to Penske Leasing’s 24/7 Roadside Assistance
team without ever making a phone call or being placed
on hold. … Ehrhardt Partner Group (EPG), a supply chain
execution and voice software solutions provider, has
launched its 2019 Solution Provider Program. The new
program allows Zebra Technologies Premier Partners
to sell EPG’s solutions directly to customers—a capabil-
ity that wasn’t previously available. … Transportation
management system provider Kuebix has celebrated
the one-year anniversary of Kuebix Free Shipper, a free
multimodal TMS that allows users to rate, book, and
track truckload, less-than-truckload, and parcel freight.
… Crane Worldwide Logistics has launched its newly
redesigned website, www.craneww.com. The site is
designed to give users quick and easy access to the latest
global trade and transportation industry news. … Terry
Matthews, executive vice president of intermodal at J.B.
Hunt, and JLL’s Walter Kemmsies are among the indus-
try thought leaders slated to speak during the SMC3
Jump Start 2019 conference. The event is scheduled for
Jan. 28 to 30 in Atlanta.

short takes

Supply chain professionals may have to get up to speed on a range of new technologies in order to stay current with their field, according to a recent report by market research firm Gartner Inc. The study identified 10 “strategic technology trends”—both familiar technologies like autonomous vehicles and more esoteric concepts like quantum computing—that have the potential to drive significant disruption and deliver significant opportunity.

Gartner defines a strategic technology trend as one with substantial disruptive potential that is beginning to break out of an emerging state into broader impact and could reach a tipping point over the next five years. The company says its report highlights changing or not-yet-widely recognized trends that will impact and transform industries during that period.

The 10 strategic technology trends identified by Gartner
are as follows:
b Autonomous things (the evolution of robots, drones,
and autonomous vehicles from standalone devices to
collaborative units that interact more naturally with their
surroundings and with people)
b Augmented analytics (an area of augmented intelligence
using machine learning instead of data scientists to sift
through and analyze data)
b Artificial intelligence (AI)-driven development (creating
AI-enhanced solutions using predefined models delivered
as a service, and assigning AI co-developers to help humans
with application development projects)
b Digital twins (digital representations of real-world
entities or systems that can help users evaluate “what if”
scenarios)
b Empowered edge (the collection and processing of
data directly at the endpoint devices used by people or
embedded in the world around us, instead of at centralized
servers)
b Immersive experience (how “conversational” platforms
like virtual reality, augmented reality, and mixed reality can
change the way people perceive the digital world)
b Blockchain (a distributed ledger that can enable trust,
provide transparency, and reduce friction across business
ecosystems)
b Smart spaces (physical or digital environments in
which humans and technology-enabled systems interact in
increasingly open, connected, coordinated, and intelligent
ways)
b Digital ethics and privacy (how peoples’ personal infor-
mation is being used by organizations in both the public
and private sectors)

b Quantum computing (a type of nonclassical computing that operates on the quantum state of subatomic particles and can handle problems too complex for traditional approaches or algorithms).