Ilia, I've heard this before, and it is like saying that FTP will replace EDI. Nope, not gonna happen. I'm assuming that by "Messaging/MQ" you are referring to IBM's MQSeries and similar solutions such as Diogenes' iMercury (now owned by TriZetto, dunno what they renamed it). MQ is a message transport, not a translator. While it is a rather nice message transport and offers some pretty nifty bells and whistles, it is still a transport. It moves messages between platforms, applications and/or trading partners, but all it does is move the data. What is missing from this picture is something to actually perform the transformations on the data, and to do that you need a translator.
In the MQSeries world the analogue to the translator is usually called a broker. Its job is to act as an agent for all messages moving within the system. IBM's MQSeries Integrator, now part of WebSphere, and Sybase's Unwired Orchestrator (UO) are examples of this. There are others. A broker receives messages and forwards them, or parts of them, to other end points in the system. It often uses specialized adapters to interface with some end points. Most brokers have available a library of adapters to interface with applications like SAP, Oracle Financials, and (are you ready for this? EDI. EDI Adapters contain the standards libaries and are specifically designed to handle complex standards-based translation. Proponents of these solutions often position brokers as translators but they are not as well-suited to handling large volumes and complex transactions. For simple transactions, such as the 850 and 810 a broker could well do the trick, but try jamming an 856 or a healthcare 837 into UO and see what happens! It isn't pretty! Oh, the vendors will tell you glowing tales of how well this works, but those stories all start with "Once upon a time..." That is why Sybase also sells the EDI Server (ie: PaperFree) or EDI Adapter (again, PaperFree) along with UO. IBM has recently acquired Ascential and through that the Mercator translator. My bet is this serves as the EDI Adapter for WebSphere. Can an MQ-based solution replace retail EDI solutions? Yes, but another factor to take into consideration is cost. In order to buy into an MQSeries solution you are looking at spending six figures for the software license and then you still have the services component to deal with. You can DIY and avoid that cost, but then you have to address the learning curve. Is it do-able? Certainly, but is not nearly as easy as the fan club makes it sound. In any case what you are replacing is the message transport with MQSeries and replacing your translator with either the broker or an EDI Adapter. With the broker you can do all the translation you want as long as you want to do all the work yourself (think Biztalk!). With an EDI Adapter you get the standards libraries and an application that already understands the EDI structure... in other words you replaced your translator with, er, a translator! Hope this helps! Btw, you mentioned one of your "colleges" by which I'm assuming you mean a colleague. If it IS colleges and I've just helped you with your homework, let me know what grade we get. ;-) -John DISCLAIMER: I do not work for any of the companies listed above. I used to work for New Era of Networks(NEON), an EAI vendor that was acquired by Sybase some years ago, thus providing them with their EDI Server, EDI Adapter and UO applications (among others). NEON, prior to getting swallowed by Sybase, worked closely with IBM, so I am also familiar with the MQSeries and WebSphere familes of products. I worked for Sybase from the time of the acquisition until I did my part to 'enhance shareholder value' some 15 months ago. I was a customer of PaperFree before NEON acquired them. At NEON/Sybase I worked as a system consultant in a presales capacity where I helped sell, architected (is that even a word??) and implemented solutions using the former PaperFree products, NEON's EAI technology and IBM's MQSeries family. I'm a big fan of new toys, bells, and whistles but the ROI has to be considered before taking the plunge. Happy 4th! CanCon: Happy Canada Day! (July 1st) -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Ilia Chlaifer Sent: Friday, July 01, 2005 9:29 AM To: [email protected] Subject: [EDI-L] <TECH><MISC> MQ vs EDI? Howdy all. One of my colleges had made a statement that Messaging/MQ can and should eventually replace traditional EDI. When I've disputed his statement claiming that MQ is not applicable in the retail world due it its complicity and luck of true standards throughout the trading partners (not as EDI replacement at least), he had stated that GAP for example had done it. I know that GAP's example is not adequate, since their both vendor and retailer in one, but... Without getting into semantics and keeping flaming to the minimum I wanted to get some opinions regarding subj. Are some messaging platform fully capable to replace traditional translators supporting current EDI standards and validations? Would they be able to seamlessly convert to-from proprietary EDI formats used by the smaller or antiquated TPs in (retail) industry? Please tell me, I might have headed in the wrong direction for past 14 years. Happy Friday and ID4. Ilia KHNY . 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