Matthew,
What Brenda asked is not contradictory.
The product which VAN's deliver can be broken into two broad functions
o Network access (transport)
o Service bureau (functionality)
If I understood Brenda's message correctly, she is looking to utilize
the internet to access the service bureau functions which a VAN
provides.
The internet is transport not functionality. As we have beaten to death
on this list server, the internet in and by itself, does not provide the
service bureau functions which VANs offer. You mentioned Walmart as an
example of a company which eliminated the VAN. Keep in mind that they
also made a significiant investment in both transport and functionality.
They also required their trading partners to make similar investments
although not to the same extent.
Brenda is being very smart in trying to utilize the corporate
infrastructure which is available to her (the internet) to reach a
service provider which will handle mailboxing, interconnects to other
VANs, etc., etc. She is sharing the transport costs with other parts of
the company instead of bearing all of it. (Yes - I realize that she
will still pay VAN charges. But obviously they provide value to her.)
A number of companies have done a similar thing with their frame relay
networks. They may use AT&T, MCI, or other frame relay providers for
the network infrastructure between their locations. A number of VANs
have connections to the major frame relay networks (or they are the
actual provider) and you can set up a permanent virtual circuit to the
VAN. It's fast, secure, and cheap when the corporate infrastructure is
already in place. For a high volume user of VAN services, it can be
much less costly than a dedicated leased line. You can also get a
performance guarantee which would be hard for an ISP to match. Of equal
importance, the IT network group provides support, instead of the EDI
business unit. The key is to utilize your corportate resources and not
be an island onto yourself.
Oh, by the way, I don't work for a VAN or a network provider. It seems
if you come out supporting VANs on this list server, you get accused of
working for one.
Doug Fangmeier
Consulting Manager
Business To Business Solutions
Charter Solutions, Inc.
-----Original Message-----
From: Matthew Sperr [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: Friday, August 04, 2000 10:23 AM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: EDI over the internet
Correct me if I'm wrong or if it's just Friday and I'm not thinking
clearly.
Brenda asked about a VAN/Service to do EDI over the internet, isn't that
contradictory? The purpose of doing EDI over the internet is to get rid
of
the VAN, at least the VAN costs. The transmissions of EDI documents can
be
done through FTP, with security, but if you're still going through a VAN
service it's not "eliminating the VAN". (Don't worry VAN's you'll be
around
for a long time.) In the EDI world that I work in,
Retailer-Manufacturer,
major retailers are still pushing mailboxes on VANs for their suppliers,
partly because they have invested millions of dollars into internal
systems
to accept EDI formatted documents which they can receive over the
internet
but until "they" move their internal software systems to support web
browsers they will continue to use VAN's. Ultimatley, the "elimination
of
the VAN" will incur only if the "major" companys move to a direct
connect
feature themselves, ie Walmart. Sorry for not answering your question
Brenda, I just needed to open my big mouth.
Matt
EDI Coordinator
----- Original Message -----
From: Brenda Newby <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Friday, August 04, 2000 6:22 AM
Subject: EDI over the internet
> I am looking for a VAN/Service to use EDI over the internet. We have
> researched ICC.NET. Does anyone use them? Does anyone have another
> VAN/Service they use for EDI over the internet?
>
>
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