FedEx Corporation is a logistics services company based in the United States. It was founded in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1971 by Frederick W. Smith and since then has grown into a multibillion-dollar company with aerial and terrestrial forces that cater to almost 6 million packages per day. The company's headquarters are currently in Memphis, Tennessee. Originally known as FDX Corporation, it was renamed to FedEx Corporation in January 2000 and all of its subsidiaries were rebranded. The name FedEx is actually an abbreviation of the company's original air division "Federal Express." FedEx Corporation allows customers and businesses the world over to choose from a wide variety of transportation, e-commerce and business services. Boasting annual revenues of $40 billion, the company offers integrated business applications under the respected FedEx brand. FedEx has consistently ranked among the world's most admired and trusted employers, and sports a massive workforce of more than 290,000 employees globally. FedEx aspires to remain positively focused on safety, the highest ethical and professional standards and the needs of their customers and communities. (Schneider, 2008)

FedEx Corp has many different divisions which altogether work towards making it the industry's global leader, and allow it to tap into all different shipping markets. These divisions include "FedEx Express," which is the world's largest express transportation company. To cater to time-sensitive orders and to facilitate speedy delivery, it uses a global air-and-ground network. This division employs more than 146,000 people worldwide and caters to more than 220 countries. It has an air fleet of 688 aircraft which includes almost 124 Airbuses, 47 ATRs, 269 Boeings and 240 Cessnas. It has a delivery fleet of more than 44000 motorized vehicles.

Other divisions include FedEx Supply Chain (catering to commercial markets), FedEx Trade Networks (includes end-to-end services like customs brokerage), FedEx Ground (deals in cost-effective, small-package shipping), FedEx SmartPost (deals in delivery of low-weight, less-time-sensitive, business-to-consumer packages), FedEx Freight (provides less-than-truckload freight services), FedEx Custom Critical (provides door-to-door, same-day and next-day delivery of urgent, valuable and hazardous items), FedEx Office (provides printing and shipping expertise on the go) and FedEx TechConnect (whose purpose is to align customer contact centers with worldwide revenue operations). (Birla, 2005)

It has an annual capital expense budget of around $1.5 billion and employs almost 5000 people worldwide. This division is primarily responsible for supporting the technologies and infrastructures, the networks, the computer operations, the field service and scanning systems. It also oversees applications development and other aspects of IT.
On their customer front, FedEx has introduced many applications and has employed their IT resources to create value-added services. An example of this is the FedEx Ship Manager. This is an online application that requires customers to have an account number and a user id, which they can use to place shipment orders online and track progress of their packages. It benefits customers in the form of greater speed, greater ease of use, more smart features, greater convenience, more customization options, more options for visibility and the option of online tracking. The hardware side of this application, titled "FedEx Ship Manager Hardware," is a powerful solution that gives customers a full range of shipping functions so they can handle large volumes and automates their entire shipping process. High-volume shippers can improve efficiency, reduce errors and eliminate paperwork using this hardware system provided by FedEx.

Another revolutionary service offered by FedEx to its customers, which uses IT, is SenseAware. This technology basically uses sensors to monitor light, motion and temperature of packages on the go. This allows users to keep tabs on their package's temperature, location and other relevant factors. In addition to this, they can create alerts, triggers and notices for their packages. So, if a certain customer has requested shipment of a perishable item, he/she can view its state at any time during its journey and in case the item is in danger of getting spoilt, it can be re-routed in order to avoid any loss. This technology is another accolade in FedEx's already much-applauded list of cutting-edge technology resources. (All, 2009)

Very important to FedEx's success is its use of network technology, especially wireless, that enables FedEx to keep its customers informed about package whereabouts, and employees up-to-date on information required to expedite package pickup and delivery.

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