Hallmark Cards Inc. selected Fujitsu to provide a cloud-based, retail-as-a-service (RaaS) solution for its more than 2,500 independent retailers and corporate stores in the U.S. Hallmark and its independent retailers will use a monthly subscription model to cover a combination of Fujitsu TeamPoS and third-party hardware, software, support, maintenance and data center hosting services. The contract calls for the solution to be deployed over the next three years.

In a move to bring white-glove asset tracking in house, Southwest Airlines has unveiled Cargo Companion, a cellular-based device that can track shipments as well as monitor temperature, humidity and other useful information. It is being targeted at shippers of high-value perishables, time-critical parts and irreplaceable items.

At the end of this month, 211 million Ikea catalogs will be sent off into the world. If one lands on your doorstep, you'll want to have your smartphone handy.

On July 17, a wide range of third-party products on Amazon showed special pricing: one cent. The pricing glitch was, yet again, caused by some third-party integration and a coding error.

In 2011, the business analytics market extended its post-2009 recovery with another stellar performance by growing worldwide revenues 14.1 percent year over year. International Data Corporation forecasts that it will continue to grow at a 9.8 percent compound annual growth rate through 2016 to reach $50.7bn. Helping to drive this growth is media attention focused on Big Data, putting broader business analytics on the agenda of more senior executives.

Thin Film Electronics ASA, a player in development of printed electronics, and Bemis Company Inc., a Fortune 500 supplier of flexible packaging and pressure-sensitive materials, plan to develop a flexible sensing platform that can collect and wirelessly communicate sensor information, for use by food, consumer products and healthcare companies.

RedPrairie Corp. has released version 2012.1 of the RedPrairie Commerce Suite for retailers. The tool can be applied to all channels and multiple customer touch-points, the vendor said.

Enterprise software is big business. This becomes evident when you add up the costs of purchasing software licenses, implementing the system, migrating data, training employees, and maintaining the system. If your enterprise system doesn't meet your expectations, you risk running some of your investment down the drain. Unfortunately, it is quite common for companies to take shortcuts when determining their software needs, which often leads them to acquire a system that doesn't exactly match their business requirements.

Today's manufacturers make increasing use of enterprise manufacturing intelligence (EMI) solutions, which offer the potential to improve processes and reduce costs, to help address their key challenges. The term enterprise manufacturing intelligence, also sometime referred to as "operational intelligence" or "manufacturing intelligence," applies to the technology and practices available to tap into the vast amount of plant data; contextualizing and exposing it as intelligent information with analytics, dashboards, and other visualization tools.

Honeywell has been involved in supply chain activities for some time, but with its acquisition of LXE, it's become quite active in the AIDC market as well, says Bill Roeder, director of product management at Honeywell Scanning & Mobility.