This just came into my in basket: Introducing Open Source WMS picoWMS is a highly-configurable warehouse management and control software package which will be available at no cost, and with full source code. The first complete installation-ready release is expected in 2nd quarter of 2003, with updates and enhancements to continue thereafter. While a completely off-the-shelf WMS that will appeal to everyone is nearly impossible to create, picoWMS plans to provide enough of the infrastructure, operational modules, and examples to allow consultants and computer/web-savvy warehouse IT groups to install their own systems. Designed with growth in mind, picoWMS will allow the same software to operate a simple two person, paper-based system, and yet be able to grow into a high-end, optimized warehouse management system complete with bar codes, directed picking and optimized putaway with interleaved operations, cross-docking, ASN receiving, resource management, and much more. All of this will be done through a series of configuration changes, and addition of other open source modules as needed. The initial configuration of the system is also simplified: a number of different user Case Studies (templates) will exist with pre-configured working systems available to test. Thus the warehouse manager could select one of the provided templates and immediately begin testing to see if the system meets his needs. It is expected that through the open source development path the code will continue to expand to meet the needs of most users. Visit http://openwms.sourceforge.net for more information. Contact John Ribar, the picoWMS project manager, at john at picasso-software.com, if you would like to help in the development, testing, documentation, support, or financial backing of the project. All of these opportunities are also discussed on the website. -- Thanks, James Spinti jspinti at dartdist dot com 952-368-3278 ext 396 fax 952-368-3255