Zebra Technologies has announced the launch of its TC15 into the African market, offering a new rugged device for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) across the manufacturing, transportation, field services, retail, and hospitality verticals. Coupling premium features of the Zebra brand with a competitive price, the TC15 promises to shake up a market typically dominated by low-cost regional manufacturers and consumer-grade devices. Learn more
Amid extreme weather and record port congestion, smooth supply chains have come to feel like a distant memory. The need to navigate new challenges is more urgent than ever, and shippers are pushing much of their urgency onto logistics providers: the truck drivers, maritime crews, and aviators operating in ever-shorter timeframes. Learn more
With MilDef’s recent acquisition of Handheld Group, changes are in store for both companies as they work together to expand their market presence. VDC Research Analyst Rowan Litter spoke with Handheld Group CEO Thomas Löfblad to discuss the transition. Learn more
Mobile analytics are quickly becoming an essential part of everyday life in the modern world. With businesses and people looking to become the most efficient versions of themselves, the ability to analyze strengths and weaknesses is vastly important. Whether its businesses looking to shave off minutes of downtime to ensure maximum productivity or social media analyzing user data to produce an individualized platform, analytics have a strong hold on how we experience our everyday lives. With the current transition into smart solutions, data on how to best run these new technologies will be critical moving forward. Learn more
Mobile analytics are quickly becoming an essential part of everyday life in the modern world. With businesses and people looking to become the most efficient versions of themselves, the ability to analyze strengths and weaknesses is vastly important. Whether its businesses looking to shave off minutes of downtime to ensure maximum productivity or social media analyzing user data to produce an individualized platform, analytics have a strong hold on how we experience our everyday lives. With the current transition into smart solutions, data on how to best run these new technologies will be critical moving forward. Learn more
Amidst major events of the last three years, risk assessments have become a critical part of leadership discussions. Hybrid and remote work, long dismissed as a threat to office “culture” and productivity, are expected job components for new employees; however, amid a multi-year pandemic, supply chain disruptions, and ongoing waves of the “great resignation,” cybersecurity has fallen low on executives’ priority lists, putting them at a growing risk of cyberattacks through their hybrid workforces. At the dawn of the pandemic, a VDC end-user survey showed that over 40% of leadership in sectors ranging from public safety to healthcare to transportation viewed strong IT infrastructure as the most important contributor to pandemic adaptability. Strong infrastructure has become increasingly harder to maintain: there are now a range of cybersecurity risks faced by companies around hardware, software, and connectivity, with the added human risks deriving from both employees and their employers. Learn more
Two new rugged device lines have recently been announced, which have promising features designed to improve usability and durability for their respective markets. Zebra Technologies has announced the release of two new members of its TC5X Series of mobile computers (TC53 and TC58), while Panasonic is launching its new TOUGHBOOK 40 laptop. With the TC5X devices offering optimized screen size and enhanced dimensioning capabilities, and the TOUGHBOOK 40 exceeding durability standards of past devices, these new products will collectively cater to a wide range of user needs. Learn more
Peak Technologies is one of the market leaders in the AIDC space, offering digital supply chain solutions utilizing enterprise printing, labeling, mobile data collection and a full suite of lifecycle and managed services. Peak focuses on end markets such as manufacturing, wholesale distribution, e-commerce, transportation, and logistics and retail. In April 2021, Peak Technologies was acquired by Sole Source Capital, a private equity firm that thematically invests in fragmented, high-growth industrial subsectors. Sole Source seeks founder-owned businesses or corporate carve-outs that will benefit from the team’s operating and M&A capabilities. Sole Source Capital has a strong operating heritage that enables it to execute a buy and build strategy with significant downside protection. Learn more
On May 18, RealWear hosted Welcome to the Industrial Metaverse: XR Powerhouse Roundtable Discussion with Andrew Chrostowski (Board Chair & CEO| RealWear, Inc.), Indranil Sircar (CTO, Manufacturing Industry | Microsoft), Brain Vogelsang (Sr. Director, Product Management – AR | Qualcomm), and John Fan (Board Chair & CEO | Kopin). The discussion explored the benefits, challenges, technology requirements, and potential use cases of the industrial metaverse. Benefits are expected in productivity, access to data, and worker experience, but the panel anticipates the most impactful changes will relate to worker safety. For this technological revolution to occur and place safety at the forefront, the worker and physical world will always take priority over the digital world. Panelists stressed that, while much of the technology required for a metaverse experience in the enterprise already exists, there are still gaps which will be addressed in stages over the coming years. Learn more
Shipium, a supply chain software company announced its Series A funding on April 14. The $27.5M funding round is the largest ever Series A for a supply chain software provider and brings the company’s total funding to $38.7M. Shipium, which calls itself a “fulfillment management platform for e-commerce retail” posits that with the right modern solutions, any e-commerce retailer can compete with Amazon. Amazon, the e-commerce titan and de facto measuring stick for all things online retail, is on the resumes of both Mac Brown and Jason Murray, who co-founded Shipium in 2019. Learn more