RE: EDI SNA Dialing and VANS

Scott,

Thanks for your input, we certainly have a few options.

Thanks to everyone else who replied too.  Very helpful.

Bryan

-----Original Message-----
From: Scott Klement [mailto:midrange-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Wednesday, August 31, 2005 12:47 PM
To: Midrange Systems Technical Discussion
Subject: Re: EDI SNA Dialing and VANS


> We've been put on notice that our EDI VAN,  GSX (formerly ADVANTIS) which
is
> part of IBM Global Services, will no longer support SNA dialing as of
> January 2006. Although they support EDI SSL FTP, we got a quote of $10,000
> for a software package that does that.  We're currently using INOVIS'
> TrustedLink software for the actual EDI.

We also use TrustedLink, but instead of IBM Global Services, we use 
Inovis' VAN.  The TrustedLink software comes with a secure SSL method of 
communicating with their VAN over the Internet which saves us a lot of 
money.

a) It comes with the software, so you don't have to buy anything you don't 
already have.

b) Because it uses the Internet as the communications media, we've found 
that it's more reliable than dial up, it's much faster, and we don't have 
to pay for an extra telephone line.

c) You no longer need to buy/maintain a modem.


>
> Anyone ever change VANS to save money?  How was the experience?
>

Absolutely.  We previously used Sterling's Commerce:Network as our VAN, 
and we switched to Inovis to save money.  (Inovis charged us about half of 
what Sterling was)  since the VANs all interconnect with one another, it 
doesn't really matter which one you use.

Our changeover went perfectly, and now it's easier to use and saves us 
money.

Obviously your mileage may vary -- it'll depend on exactly what you're 
doing with EDI and how much volume you send, but for us, it was the right 
choice.