Goodbye July, hello August. Here is the news that caught our attention this week:

SAP, JDA, and CH Robinson all reported positive financial results for Q2 2010. SAP’s software and software-related service revenue increased 16 percent in the quarter (8 percent at constant currency) to EUR 2,258 million. The company reported strong growth in the US and double-digit growth in key emerging markets in Latin America and Asia.

JDA reported record total revenues of $158.4 million, a 59 percent increase over Q2 2009. This year’s figures, however, include revenues from i2’s acquired products. Considering that i2 reported total revenues of $57.1 million in Q2 2009, it’s reasonable to assume that a large percentage of this quarter’s growth is a result of the acquisition. According to Hamish Brewer, JDA president and chief executive officer, “Record license sales were a primary feature of the second quarter and once again the contribution from i2 products was significant. Six months into the integration of i2, we fully expected to be delivering the cost synergies we are seeing, but this accelerated license revenue growth is far better than we had planned. Further work remains to be done, but so far the integration process is going very well.”

Total net revenues increased 3.7 percent this quarter for CH Robinson. The company’s truck net revenues, which include truckload and LTL services, declined by 2.4 percent compared to the same period last year. Although truckload volumes increased about 18 percent in the second quarter compared to Q2 2009, truckload net revenue margins decreased due to higher transportation costs and higher fuel prices, partially offset by increased pricing to customers (about 5 percent higher this quarter compared to Q2 2009). CH Robinson’s other logistics services net revenues, which include transportation management fees and customs brokerage fees, increased 36.2 percent, driven by an increase in management fees as well as the acquisition of International Trade & Commerce, which contributed about 11 percent of the growth.

Schneider Logistics’ announcement is interesting because it reportedly addresses the visibility “black holes” shippers have in their international end-to-end supply chains. According to the press release:

The service provides a single snapshot of activity from multiple supply chain trading entities, including steamship lines, terminals, custom brokers, dray carriers and distribution centers. With this information, Schneider can couple international milestone visibility with port dray management, and in turn synchronize international and domestic supply chain events for shippers. Shippers, in turn, have actionable data, visibility and control to dramatically lower their overall transportation cost.

I haven’t talked to a customer using this service, but the press release states that an international retailer eliminated seven days in-transit and reduced its annual dray cost by 20 percent, resulting in millions of dollars in savings. I’m going to try to speak with this retailer to get their perspective of this service and how the current process compares to the old one.

Finally, on a personal note:

Forty years ago this coming Monday, I was born with my umbilical cord wrapped around my neck, anxious to take my first breath. Thirty eight years and a day later, I sat next to my father lying in bed and heard him take his last breath, as the cancer cells took one last bite of his lungs, and his heart beat a final soft note.

I’m heading to Brooklyn this weekend, where I was born and where my mother still lives. There will be a cake waiting for me, I’m sure, maybe my favorite—“el cake de piña” from Valencia Bakery. I can’t remember how many birthdays I celebrated with that pineapple-filled cake, but I remember that my sister and none of my cousins would eat it. They didn’t like it, and they complained every year when they saw my mom carry out the same cake from the kitchen, lit candle on top, to sing Happy Birthday.

I will not blow out my candles this year. It took me this long to get here; why make the moment pass so quickly.

I will watch them burn instead, the slow melt of wax beneath the tiny flames. Oh, sure, I’ll make a wish, the same one I’ve been making the past couple of years. And I’ll place it there, where wax, wick, and flame come together, and watch it flicker.

On Tuesday, I’m going to the beach with my family. I have no idea why my father requested to be cremated and buried at sea. When I learned of his wishes, it was too late to ask. Maybe the ocean reminded my father of Cuba, the country where he was born and where his mother Flora still lives. Or maybe he chose the ocean because he had worked so hard, since childhood, on land and with dirt–planting seeds, harvesting crops, cutting sugarcane–that to him land signified work, pain, sweat, and sacrifice, while the ocean, the ocean is mysterious, infinite, powerful, and full of life. It’s almost impossible to look at the ocean and not believe in God.

Or maybe he just wanted me to go to the beach and watch my kids play in the surf.

I hate the cold water, but maybe this year I’ll wade into the map-green ocean, hold my breath and dive under, until I feel my lungs burn, anxious for another breath.

(Note: SAP, JDA, and CH Robinson are ARC clients)

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