The electronic industry has always been characterized by high variability in supply and demand. With recent natural disasters such as the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, and flooding in the parts of the U.S., the problem has only become more acute. Tackling it requires state-of-the-art systems, strong management commitment, good customer service, well-run business processes, integration among functions and effective inventory-control procedures, says Dave Lentz, director of innovation and solutions marketing with Avnet Electronics Marketing Americas.

In addition to technical and functional skills, supply chain managers need to hone their "soft" skills in areas like project management and change management, says Bill Seliger of R.R. Donnelly Logistics Services.

Arena Solutions, a vendor of cloud-based product lifecycle-management (PLM) software for managing bills of materials (BOMs), has forged a partnership with Octopart, a search engine for electronic parts.

As the role of cloud computing is growing significantly in its ability to deliver business applications, many IT decision makers are facing challenges with their existing network infrastructure to support the migration of their business applications to the cloud.

Cadec Global, a vendor of fleet-management technology, has developed a new version of its PowerVue application. PowerVue Enterprise, delivered under a software-as-a-service (SaaS) model, extends companies' visibility into fleet-wide assets, Cadec said.

GT Nexus and Kinaxis have formed a partnership to provide customers with a unified, cloud-based planning and execution platform.

CargoSmart Ltd., a vendor of global shipping and logistics applications delivered under the software-as-a-service (SaaS) model, has launched business-process outsourcing services for ocean carriers and logistics service providers (LSPs).

Accellos Inc. has developed version 6.4 of AccellosOne Warehouse, the vendor's warehouse-management system software.

Kewill Plc has introduced Kewill Flagship Express, an application aimed at small and medium-sized businesses with parcel shipments of U.S. origin.

Ariba Inc. has developed an updated version of its collaborative commerce platform. The new Ariba Network will include a "consumer-like" buying interface which gives requisitioners real-time access to the data needed to making buying decisions, the vendor said.