UPS starts its global roll-out of Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, cellular systems to speed up package processing: The system will start its rollout in Europe in package sorting centers. Sorts will wear a Bluetooth ring on their middle finger that will scan bar codes. The ring hands data off to a belt-worn Wi-Fi device which communicates with the network. By 2007, UPS will have 55,000 ring scanners deployed in 118 countries. They predict enormous savings in repairs and downtime as well as spare parts inventory. It also provides worker flexibility: there's no fixed station needed. 73 sites will have the system deployed by the end of 2005.
UPS will install about 12,000 access points across 2,000 facilities as part of this rollout. While they say the resulting network will be one of the largest in the world, a conversation I had with a firm today that builds software to manage large-scale access point deployments indicates that there may be several hundred companies today with thousands of access points across all branches, and that topping 10,000 access points for a worldwide corporation won't be unusual in a year or two.
In the U.S., UPS is testing its DIAD IV (Delivery Information Acquisition Device) which combines GPS (for positioning), Bluetooth (for scanning), Wi-Fi (for transmission), and GSM/GPRS cellular data (for uplinking). The device even has an acoustic modem for the backroads that UPS finds itself delivering packages to.