ALK Technologies — a worldwide developer of routing, mileage, and mapping software — announced Thursday, June 19, the release of PC Miler Web Services 22. The hosted service delivers the latest PC Miler data over the Internet to customers with virtually any kind of computer platform or operating system to multiple PC Miler versions. PC Miler Web Services users include carriers, third-party logistics providers and shippers.
Web Services are helpful to companies with multiple locations, multiple versions of PC Miler or mixed computer systems. For example, Web Services shipment data can pass through an AS/400-platform corporate server to a Windows or even Linux-based work station via the Level 3 servers that host the service. Virtually any other platform or operating system can be involved, including UNIX, Java, Perl and others. ALK saysPC Miler Web Services are available on any Internet-connected computer or network.
“We introduced PC Miler Web Services a year ago in response to customer requests to help with cross-platform problems,” says Michael Bodden, chief technology officer for Princeton, N.J.-based ALK Technologies. “In our version 22 release, we have substantially enhanced our PC Miler network data and improved how that data can be managed and displayed. We have upgraded both the content and the system tools under the hood.”
If the customer is using PC Miler installed on a network or work station, only one version can be accessed at a time. ALK says that with PC Miler Web Services, access is provided to PC Miler data for the version of choice; this enables companies to continue fulfilling transportation contracts that specify particular PC Miler versions.
ALK says PC Miler Web Services 22 incorporates a number of performance enhancements, including input structure definitions and API (Application Programming Interface) descriptions; these allow developers to upgrade their PC Miler data within third-party applications. PC Miler Web Services offers four feature option levels – Lite, Standard, Premium and Enterprise. The Lite option offers core PC Miler functionality, according to the company, while the three more full-featured versions provide additional capabilities such as street-level routing, truck-specific toll costs and map display.
ALK says PC Miler Web Services 22 includes the latest PC Miler data, with more than 2.4 million new and revised truck restrictions, truck-specific toll costs by weight and axle, updated and improved U.S. and Canadian weight restrictions, 56,000 new and enhanced hazmat and dangerous goods restrictions, and the ability to search, display and route to 9.5 million points of interest from infoUSA’s extended U.S. business database. For more information, go to www.alk.com/pcmiler/web-services.
