Panasonic had added two new rugged handheld tablets to its portfolio of mobile devices

BlueStar Inc., a distributor of ADC, mobility, point-of-sale, radio frequency identification, digital signage and security technology products, is now selling the TC8000 mobile computer from Zebra Technologies.

Has your company seen all the headlines about shipping lithium ion batteries by air? How are you supposed to keep up with what's compliant and what is not? Here's a concise overview on the lithium ion battery air transport regulations that will be effective April 1, along with a preview of what might be expected later in 2016.

Analyst Insight: The overall market for U.S. 3PL providers has surpassed $116bn after six consecutive years of expansion. The 3PL market has expanded in all but one of the last 10 years, with a recession-fueled decline in 2009 the only blemish. At the same time, global corporations are striving to consolidate the number of logistics providers they work with to obtain more services from fewer providers. - John Johnson, Senior Content Specialist, Gartner Supply Chain

Analyst Insight: Transportation management technology is the fastest-growing segment of the supply chain technology market. Firms that relied on third parties want to take more control. From global supply chains to adding more advanced services such as home delivery, companies need to improve logistics performance and costs, making this an active technology sector. - Ann Grackin, CEO, ChainLink

Analyst Insight: The orchestration of processes and information for the procurement of goods to the "last mile" delivery to the customer is a required competency in today's direct-to-consumer marketplace. The convergence of supply chain execution systems is a goal that many enterprises have yet to achieve. While some like Amazon and Walmart are well on their way, others have yet to begin the development of their strategic road map. – David Meyers, Principal - Supply Chain Technology, Tompkins International

Here's a question for U.S. exporters who were grievously harmed by the West Coast longshore labor slowdown in late 2014 and early 2015: Would it make you feel any better to learn that you were the victims of "a street brawl"?

Analyst Insight: Network design, network planning, network analysis, network optimization, or network studies - these terms have been used over the past 25 years to represent the work to determine how to set up logistics networks, how to analyze them for cost reductions, and how to re-plan them when something important changes. - Gene Tyndall, Executive Vice President, Tompkins International