Many shippers could save money by taking advantage of the substantial spot market for transportation, says Ralph Galantine, product manager at DAT. Capacity varies greatly by lane, however, so good market data is essential.

The rapid growth of e-commerce and, in some cases, declining store sales raise difficult questions for retailers around whether and how to integrate their various distribution channels, says Andrew Breckenridge, executive vice president of Fortna. He outlines key issues influencing these decisions and identifies other retail trends to watch in the coming year.

The number one imperative for North American shippers continues to be cost reduction and cost containment, which means that logistics providers must analyze and scrutinize operations more diligently than ever in order to find such opportunities, says Jeremy Haycock, president of Damco North America.

Pole Star, a provider of indoor location technology, has released NAO Cloud.

Dassault Systemes, a provider of product design and lifecycle-management applications, has launched HT body.

The term demand driven has become vogue again, but what does it really mean? And, should it be taken one step further to orchestrate bidirectionally market-to-market in market-driven value networks? Or will companies stumble on the path by mistakenly implementing supply-centric processes and calling them demand-driven initiatives?

Benoit Reinards of Flanders Investment and Trade explains why global retailers like Nike have made Flanders their hub for distribution throughout Europe and beyond.

The Open Group Trusted Technology Forum, a global consortium formed to create information-technology standards and certifications, has published the Open Trusted Technology Standard (O-TTPS).