Good points, Craig. I would stop short of correlating WM's mandate to use AS2 with this GXS scenario, though. WM did not stand to directly profit from their decision (outside of improvements to their supply chain). Sure, there are *always* some possibilities of backroom dealings, but when they moved to AS2, they garnered a deal with iSoft to provide small vendors with an AS2 client for peanuts. It wasn't more than $300 bucks... I think the old bisync modem cost more than that. I think in their case, WM just took the lead in the retail space and made a good choice; They didn't make a decision based on how much they could bilk their partners.
>> It’s forcing a business decision that doesn’t need to be forced and never – >> EVER – should be forced. As far as "why" WM has never been keen on VAN use, I just have to wonder if it really isn't a security thing as previously mentioned. Michael's comments about your competition knowing all that stuff anyway is certainly somewhat true, but how much would it be worth if a VAN had collected a detailed data warehouse of all of WM's sales data across all lines over several years? They guard access to POS data on Retail Link pretty closely. If a VAN was doing what they are supposed to do, they would have to "archive" it. Who's to say they wouldn't also "peek" at it... and maybe sell some of it? Just thinking paranoid. Travis- ----- Original Message ----- From: "Craig Dunham" <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Friday, June 14, 2013 11:34:48 AM Subject: RE: [EDI-L] Re: Loren Data vs. GXS.... The EDI Saga... Vijay (et al), I’m certainly not suggesting that AS2 is a bad thing… not at all. And yes, there are many BIG companies (whether we’re talking retail, medical, transportation, finance, etc.) that use AS2. And yes, in volume, it can be much more cost effective for a BIG company to use AS2. However, this is also not the best thing for the rest of the trading world. A smaller vendor or retailer may not be able to afford the infrastructure, they may not be technically savvy enough to get it or have any use for the regular maintenance of an AS2 connection (or, rather, connections)…. And woe to the SMB (small, medium business) that needs to transact business with the world’s largest retailer AND with a lot of other retailers; WM is big, for sure, but they’re not the only retailer in the world for some manufacturer to supply their goods to. Forcing AS2 on your trading community is no better than what GXS is trying to pull in this matter, basically forcing all of the vendors and suppliers and companies that utilize Loren Data (including the many, MANY, companies that use SPS for their EDI needs) to now use the GXS network. It’s forcing a business decision that doesn’t need to be forced and never – EVER – should be forced. GXS is quite ubiquitous to B2B and EDI. With their gobbling up of other translation software providers and VANs, they are large in the EDI world. With SPS Commerce, they provide a LOT of EDI connectivity and availability for trading partners to use. They’re players in the EDI world, no matter what we may think of them. They’ve got thousands (and thousands and thousands and thousands) of customers and clients that utilize their services every single day. Craig SoCal EDI Guy From: Vijay Thomas [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Friday, June 14, 2013 5:14 AM To: [email protected]; 'Earl Wertheimer'; [email protected]; 'socal_ediguy' Subject: RE: [EDI-L] Re: Loren Data vs. GXS.... The EDI Saga... If the biggest retailer in the world (Wal-Mart)has been using AS2 for 10 years now without a hitch – then in my books the case for VANs being easier to use and being more cost effective somehow does not hold water. Wal-Mart for the record again also does not use GXS nor SPS who both would like you to think that they are ubiquitous to B2B/ EDI. Vijay From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of [email protected] Sent: June 14, 2013 12:55 AM To: Earl Wertheimer; [email protected]; socal_ediguy Subject: RE: [EDI-L] Re: Loren Data vs. GXS.... The EDI Saga... Earl I suggest you need to look at some of the newer Gateway solutions in the market. This is not about my company, competitive solutions address the issues you raised: I think the bigger problem with AS2 is that fact that it is point-to-point. It means that you have to maintain a larger number of connections, instead of a single connection with your VAN. >> Trading Partner Management tools simplify this issue. >>Example: HP currently handles over 15,000 global partner relationships from >>one central gateway using one tool. The AS2 certificates have to be renewed on a regular basis, and if you have a lot of Trading Partners, it becomes a bigger job to manage. >> Key store with Certificate manager that issues and distributes new >> certificates to partners. Automated ability to roll over to new certs when >> the old ones expire eliminating any manual effort or down time due to >> expired certs. Example: Receive a replacement cert from a trading partner due to roll over next week. Drop it in the roll over folder and you're done. If you have 100 AS2 Trading partners and each cert is valid for 5 years (5 x 200 working days) = 1000 days, then you will be updating certs every 10 days. >> Fully automated as above. Go in once, set expiry / roll over schedules, >> issue as needed, drop incoming in the roll over folder and let the system do >> the work. _____ No virus found in this message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 2013.0.3345 / Virus Database: 3199/6408 - Release Date: 06/13/13 [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> Job postings are welcome, but for job postings or requests for work: <JOBS> IS REQUIRED in the subject line as a prefix.Yahoo! Groups Links [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ ... 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