Commport Communications is one of the VANs that Ryan Bachman of Covisint described very well. Commport has been providing EDI VAN solutions for more than 15 years and has interconnects with all of the major VANS (and setting up new ones all the time) and we also host and manage an AS2 server to facilitate AS2 communications for trading partners, customers and other VANs who request the use of the AS2 protocol.
As Ryan said, setting up and managing AS2 communications can be quite expensive if being mandated for use by one partner. When using a provider such as Commport, customers can create one connection, to Commport, using a communications protocol that the customer favors and Commport manages and delivers data to end users despite the protocol they are using. As for tracking, Commport offers a full service website that provides customer visibility to all data transmissions through our network including a 997 matching function. Feel free to contact me for more information. Thank you Glen Haywood General Manager, Sales Commport Communications Int'l, inc. (905) 727-6782 ext.2206 [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.commport.com -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Bachman, Ryan Sent: Thursday, April 06, 2006 8:00 AM To: '[email protected]' Subject: RE: [EDI-L] EDI Van service recommendations? I know that many VANs also support AS2, so it is a good direction to go if possible. You will probably not be able to get all direct connections with your trading partners, but if you can at least keep the same protocol (e.g. AS2, HTTPS, FTPS, etc.) with all of your connections (i.e. direct connects & VAN), it should simply the entire process. The benefit to using a VAN service is that it keeps things simple; one connection for you regardless of the number of end trading partners. As far as VANS to consider? I'm obviously a little biased by working for Covisint myself. It may depend on who the ultimate end trading partner is. There are some larger companies that offer to pay for their suppliers' EDI if the connection comes through a certain VAN. For example, GM uses Covisint for all of their EDI and pay for everything for their suppliers. It's a pretty great deal for the beneficiaries. It's also not a bad idea to pick the VAN of your largest (or most important) trading partner since it's easier to track documents down when they are contained within one network. If you're on bisync and need to change, I suspect that you may already be on Advantis or GXS, since they are in the process of shutting those connections down. You could probably actually just change your communication type without changing the VAN itself, but if you're going to do that, you might as well shop the market. Ryan Bachman ________________________________ From: [email protected] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Earl Wertheimer Sent: Wednesday, April 05, 2006 9:59 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [EDI-L] EDI Van service recommendations? Deb? > I am currently doing EDI with Trust Link software on an AS/400 > (bisync). > I need to change my van service. Does anyone have recommendations? I > realize I may need to move to AS2. VAN service and AS2 are usually different. A Van will charge you to handle all documents with a single connection, whereas AS2 was designed to eliminate the VAN, by connecting directly to you TPs via a secure HTTP (Internet) connection. Our clients use the following VANS: AT&T Easylink, Inovis, GXS/Advantis, Kleinschmidt and others. Get a quote. There is a lot of competition. Some of the new Internet based VANs are very inexpensive (ICC, Fountainhead). Some retail hubs (like WalMart) insist on a direct AS2 connection. In that case there are no VAN charges, but you need a server on 24/7, AS2 software and setup. That may be expensive for small volumes. You may be in an industry dominated by a particular VAN. Check with your TPs. Earl Wertheimer [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.spe-edi.com . 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! 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