TMW Delivers Web Interface for IBM i Trucking App

June 4, 2013 Alex Woodie

TMW Systems is now giving users of the Innovative IES trucking application the option of accessing the application through a Web browser. The new Web Edition of the IBM i application should bolster usability, especially for new users, and also provide access from smartphones and tablets.

Innovative IES–Web Edition enables users to access the entire dispatching and fleet management application and all its functionality from a GUI delivered in a Web browser. This release supports three browsers, including IE, Firefox, and Chrome, including those browsers running on mobile devices.

The new Web interface should make it easier for new users to become proficient with the Innovative IES application, TMW says. It should also boost integration with desktop applications like Microsoft Excel and Word. However, those users who are already accustomed the old 5250 green-screen interfaces for the IBM i app can continue to use them, and navigate the app using keyboard strokes, as opposed to pointing and clicking with a mouse.

The new Web Edition utilizes a Web server running natively on the IBM i server (probably the Apache server, although it wasn’t specified by the company). TMW Web Edition can be used by both sets of Innovative IES customers–those who run it on their own IBM i servers and those who buy access to a hosted, software as a service (SaaS) version of the software.

Innovative IES is one of several IBM i applications tucked into the TMW division of Trimble, the Sunnyvale, California, geo-location specialist that bought TMW for $335 million last summer.