In the good old days, Value Added Networks (VANs) maintained a pretty exclusive "club membership" so as to protect themselves and their customers' data. Tier 1 VANs signed and maintained quite extensive Interconnect Agreements that laid out terms of interchange of data including but not limited to mailbagging, traceability of files, minimum volume of activity, established 'store & forward' applications under their own control, and so on.
The requirements were set high so that not just anyone could "slap a PC into their basement " and claim VAN status. Unfortunately, as EDI demands were increased and technology advancements in both hardware and communications were achieved, it seems that you could "slap a PC anywhere" and claim VAN as your business. Foolish enough as it seems, some Tier 1's accepted VAN status claims from these small service centers and began to provide interconnects with them. This is not only a violation of the intent of the original Interconnect Agreements, but had resulted in lessened security, more "lost data" and similar problems because many new VANs simply could not manage nor see the reason to create services like mailbag capabilities in the first place. We now have a whole series of players in the VAN world who actually are merely resellers of some of the old Tier 1 VAN services, yet claim pure VAN status. The North American list of Tier 1 VANs consisted of GEIS, Sterling/Commerce, IBM/Advantis, MCI; Traderoute; Commport; AT&T and few others. Most are still around under new names perhaps, whereas others have merely been gobbled up in a consolidation of the business. Part of the issue with EDI is now the proliferation of wannabe VANs who just cannot deliver the services. Glen Haywood General Manager, Sales Commport Communications Int'l, inc. (905) 727-6782 ext.2206 [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.commport.com -----Original Message----- From: Stephen Lee [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, March 22, 2005 10:33 AM To: [email protected] Subject: RE: [EDI-L] <Misc> Current Matrix of VANS Glen, What and who defines a Tier 1 VAN? Thanks, -Steve "Glen Haywood" To: leem, "'Michael Josiah'", EDI-L <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> cc: Subject: RE: [EDI-L] <Misc> Current Matrix of VANS 03/22/2005 10:29 AM Please respond to glenh Lee, While the EDI directory is a useful tool, some of the information can be misleading. Case in point, there are 12 companies listed as VAN's whereby only 3 of them are recognized as a Tier 1 VAN. There should be a screening process prohibiting certain companies that sell themselves off as a VAN as Stephen Lee has pointed out. The listing process only allows for a company to list under 6 categories. Any full service company like Commport has difficulty pigeon holeing themselves into such narrowly defined categories. BTW, Commport Communications is a recognized Tier 1 VAN and I am the POC. Glen Haywood General Manager, Sales Commport Communications Int'l, inc. (905) 727-6782 ext.2206 [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.commport.com -----Original Message----- From: Lee Mrkonjic [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Monday, March 21, 2005 5:35 PM To: 'Michael Josiah'; [email protected] Subject: RE: [EDI-L] <Misc> Current Matrix of VANS Michael, You will find a comprehensive list in the EDI Vendor Directory. Visit www.edidirectory.com. Regards, Lee Mrkonjic Publisher - EDI Vendor Directory 416.657.4426 416.391.0865 (fax) www.edidirectory.com www.vantagepoint.ca >-----Original Message----- >From: Michael Josiah [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] >Sent: March 21, 2005 5:04 PM >To: [email protected] >Subject: [EDI-L] <Misc> Current Matrix of VANS > > > >Perhaps someone in the EDI List world has put together a >document of current POC's for the active VANS. > >I contacted Sears the other day, and when I asked about the >VAN was told that they are now using "G International" >formually known as IBM. That was news to me. Who is "G >International?" > >What other recent surprises are there? I know that a few >months ago Inovis acquired QRS. What else is going on in the >ever changing world of VANS? If someone has a current Matrix >of this and/or a migration list of who has been aquired, I >would appreciate it. > >Thanks in Advance, > >Shalom, > >Michael Josiah > > > > > >__________________________________________________ >Do You Yahoo!? >Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around >http://mail.yahoo.com > >[Non-text portions of this message have been removed] > > > >. >Please use the following Message Identifiers as your subject >prefix: <SALES>, <JOBS>, <LIST>, <TECH>, <MISC>, <EVENT>, ><OFF-TOPIC> Access the list online at: >http://groups.yahoo.com/group/EDI-L > >Yahoo! Groups Links > > > > > > > > . 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