3PL Perspectives
Kennedy Grey | Creative Director, DAT Solutions
BOTH INSIDE AND OUTSIDE DAT, there are a few who still remember a time well before server farms and acres of fault-tolerant storage. A time when we relied on pay phones, fax machines and word-of-mouth to get business done.
Those who do remember seldom speak up–perhaps out of fear of being found out as closer to social security than their salad days. And that’s a shame, because it illustrates why knowing the history of load boards might help you find your own best data practices moving forward.
Well before even the dawn of the PC revolution, DAT was founded on solving one key problem: how to keep drivers pulling freight on every leg of their haul.
Without databases, automation, and AI, it was hard to imagine. At first, we connected ancient CRT monitors to teletype terminals placed inside hundreds of truck stops across the country we recognized as turnaround points for popular driver routes.
Now extrapolate that evolution at each step to the present and you’ll find DAT attacking the same problem with the most appropriate technology at every turn. When fax machines appeared, they replaced the teletype machines. When satellite networks became viable, we ditched the fax machines. When the internet appeared, we replaced satellites with turn-key workstations and dial-up modems, and so on until the present day.
And even with our state-of-the-art cloud-based technology, endless supercomputing digital horsepower and acres of fault-tolerant storage, we’re still applying the same formula: use the most potent technology to keep truckers hauling freight at every mile and keep them hooked up to the best brokers in the business.
Net-Net: when you apply the best technology to solve human problems in human terms, things tend to work out. It has for us, and we know it will for you.
Welcome to the future.
DAT SOLUTIONS TECHNOLOGY TIMELINE
1978-1986
More than 200 new electronic teletypes similar to Western Union are placed at truckstops
1985-1991
Subscription satellite dishes with proprietary workstation replace teletypes
1991-1997
Networked fax machines replace satellite network
1997-2004
Proprietary turn-key PC systems replace fax machines
2004-Present
Cloud-based SaaS system iterates to present day
