Varsity Debuts Preconfigured Shipping Software for JDE World

Published: April 29, 2008

by Alex Woodie

Varsity Logistics last week debuted a new shipping solution geared specifically toward Oracle JD Edwards World environments. The new offering, called ShipSoft YourWorld, features Varsity's native shipping software for the IBM i operating system preconfigured for JDE World environments, with pricing geared toward small and mid size businesses.

From its headquarters in South San Francisco, California, Varsity Logistics develops and supports a collection of shipping applications that run only on the IBM i OS. Whether the customer needs a solution for shipping dozens of parcels through UPS, heavy-duty freight by rail or ship, or less than truckload (LTL) carriers, Varsity's shipping software helps customers pick the best carrier, find the best rate, print the required documents, and track the package to arrival.

For years, Varsity has provided a development kit for integrating the shipping software with JD Edwards World, among many other common ERP and supply chain management (SCM) applications for IBM i OS (formerly i5/OS and OS/400). With the new ShipSoft YourWorld offering, Varsity is providing that programmer's kit to customers at no extra charge.

The company is targeting SMB JD Edwards World shops because it perceives these companies--predominantly manufacturers and distributors--will be looking to maximize their supply chain operations in 2008. Varsity cites several factors in its decision to introduce ShipSoft YourWorld, including the worsening domestic economy, the high price of fuel and its affect on transportation costs, and the increase in exports due to the weak dollar.

According to Andrew Karpie, Varsity's senior director of business development, SMBs can't justify the high costs and long implementation schedules of shipping software the way larger companies can. "Deploying costly, highly sophisticated planning and optimization TMS [transportation management system] capabilities in a small to mid size business can be overkill, when the business is really struggling to improve day-to-day, operational performance of shipping execution," he says. "ShipSoft YourWorld is a shipping execution solution that addresses the key 'blocking and tackling' requirements that small to mid size businesses face in today’s environment. ShipSoft can be operational in weeks, and that is what these businesses really need."

ShipSoft YourWorld includes several Varsity offerings, including ShipSoft-Parcel, ShipSoft-Freight, ShipSelect, Export Docs, and ShipTalk AES, as well as the JD Edwards World programmer's kit.

Karpie says it's likely Varsity will introduce similar offerings for ERP products other than JD Edwards World. "System i is our market, and we plan to do everything we can to service that market," he says.

ShipSoft YourWorld is available now. Pricing starts at about $20,000 for small shippers. The software is compatible with OS/400 V5R1 and higher, and World version 7.3 and higher. For more information, visit www.varsitynet.com.

                     Post this story to del.icio.us
               Post this story to Digg
    Post this story to Slashdot