UPS Invests in Software Firm

ATLANTA — United Parcel Service will invest in TanData Corp. and jointly market transportation software designed to make it easier for companies to conduct electronic commerce.

Tulsa, Okla.-based TanData produces software that allows businesses to collect and share information about shipments from multiple sources without the need for separate proprietary systems.

Dale Hayes, vice president of electronic commerce marketing for UPS, said TanData’s application programming interface could become a standard for transportation systems integration.

The system will be licensed to any software developer seeking to incorporate it into new and existing applications, UPS said.

TanData said it is exploring marketing alliances with key software vendors in enterprise resource planning, electronic commerce and supply chain management fields.

Separately, TanData announced Progistics CS Transportation Toolkit, a new suite of development software that allows businesses to incorporate transportation transaction software into any software or Internet application.

Developers can use the Transportation Toolkit to develop electronic routing guides or build them into other applications like order entry systems. They also can establish communications with third-party electronic data interchange vendors; write custom rating software; and connect with electronic scales, bar code scanners and printers.