Real-time update of Customer's system using hand-held devices - a technical overview

Handheld Scanners are used to capture information and pass it on to real-time production system at both SACD and Huletts.

The Handheld Scanners are Symbol MC9000 devices that run on a PocketPC operating system. 

The Handheld computer connects via WIFI (802.11b) to a Web server at SACD Durban, using its Internet Explorer Interface to run a Web Application.

Capturing into the Web Application pages is assisted by the barcode scanner, which quickly and accurately captures information like the case number, shelf location, etc.

The bar-code scanners are amongst the most powerful avalable in the marketplace - and can scan barcodes up to 5m away.

The Web server application is written in ASP.Net, using Microsoft's .Net 1.1 framework.

That application is responsible for connecting to the production systems at SACD and Huletts - fetching and storing information into a local SQL server database for redundancy, and off-line operation.

The Web Application connects to SACD production systems via a COM+ interface over SACD's internal wide-area-network.

Connectivity to the customer's production systems is achieved over the Internet, using Web-services running on a web server at Huletts premises.

The web-services were custom-written by Hulett's IT staff - allowing them to update their Oracle databases.

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