The traditional lines between transportation modes will continue to fade, as shippers adjust their shipping strategies to meet rapidly changing markets.

Just as every manufacturer and retailer is having to extend its business operations around the world, the less-than-truckload industry is devising new ways to make itself a valuable member of customers' global chains.

A growing number of logistics service providers are offering to host the software needed to manage logistics. And their clients are warming to the idea.

A conversation with Mohan Balachandran , vice president-consumer industries, at i2 Technologies, Dallas.