Technology Briefs — Feb. 27 - March 5

This briefing can be e-mailed to you every week. Just click here to register.The Latest Headlines:

• RedPrairie to Acquire GEOCOMtms
• N.Y. City to Display Traffic Info via E-ZPass Tech.
• Sprint Builds High-Speed WiMax Net

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RedPrairie to Acquire GEOCOMtms

Supply chain software firm RedPrairie Corp. and GEOCOMtms Inc. jointly announced late last month they have signed an agreement in which RedPrairie will acquire Geocom.Terms of were not released. GEOCOMtms has 25 employees in Quebec City and Atlanta, the company said.The combined companies, operating under RedPrairie’s name, will integrate and support all products and services from both organizations, the two said.GEOCOMtms specializes in providing managing multiple-stop daily delivery fleet scheduling, with links between dispatchers and drivers. Transport Topics

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N.Y. City to Display Traffic Info via E-ZPass Tech.

New York City will be installing new signs on major highways that will forecast real-time information from point-to-point, computed by E-ZPass technology and displayed on thoroughfare message boards, the Associated Press reported.The duration of time between various points in the city will be based on the average time it took other drivers with E-ZPass tags to make the trip, AP said.Beginning sometime early this year, the program will be tested on the Staten Island Expressway. Later, the Belt Parkway and the FDR Drive will be added before the program is made available throughout the city’s five boroughs in about three years, the city’s Transportation Department said.Currently, such technology is being used on the New Jersey approach to the George Washington Bridge and two Metropolitan Transportation Authority bridges, AP reported. Transport Topics

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Sprint Builds High-Speed WiMax Net

Sprint Nextel Corp., the nation’s third-largest cellular provider, will use an emerging technology called WiMax to build a new high-speed wireless network, the Associated Press reported.The company said the new network, expected to launch in some markets by late this year, will provide customers with wireless Internet speeds on par with DSL and cable TV modems and four times faster than speeds available on current wireless networks, AP reported.Gary Forsee, Sprint’s chief executive officer, said that Intel Corp. will be supplying equipment to build the network while Motorola Inc. and Samsung Telecommunications America will develop WiMax-compatible phones and mobile devices. Sprint expects to spend about $1 billion on the initiative in 2007 and $1.5 billion to $2 billion in 2008, AP reported. Transport TopicsPrevious Technology Briefs