EDI might likely be the original embodiment of B2B e-commerce, which had started with a lot of mainframes and minicomputers talking to other mainframes and minicomputers. To refresh our memory, EDI emerged in the 1960s when the railroad industry sought a way to speed up and automate business communications between remote computer systems, and to eliminate the high cost of sending paper documents by snail-mail. The concept did not fully take hold industry-wide until the 1980s though, when standards were introduced to define data exchange, and when it became apparent that B2B, computer-mediated communications would require all parties to adopt a common protocol for purchase orders, acknowledgements, ASNs, and other pertinent documents. As a result, several technical committees have developed protocols governing such exchanges, which, channeled through VANs carrying these exchanges, became collectively known as EDI.
Owing to those roots, the technology remains an expensive proposition with VANs functioning like sort of electronic toll roads, charging per document or kilo-characters of data. Amounts can quickly add up. Indeed, EDI has a reputation for being expensive to set up and run, given the companies had to deploy numerous VANs, which are essentially proprietary e-mail systems that store and deliver EDI-formatted documents. It drove their suppliers' network costs up and forced them to be proficient in various communications protocols.
Aside from the upfront cost of the EDI infrastructure software (such as, set-up fees and leased lines fees), companies choosing to go with a provider of VAN EDI networks, face additional costs in maintenance and transaction processing fees alone (i.e., interconnect costs). For the above reasons, one would expect companies to begin gravitating in droves toward extensible markup language (XML), Internet-based EDI, and related Web services for transaction communications. Therefore, MBS' intention with MBN has been to make the EDI process easier by removing at least one layer of the technical problem, so that its partners can then focus more on the business issues that the customer really cares about.
Accordingly, MBN will support generic EDI with XML standards, while it will also enable interoperability with other EDI standards and more traditional EDI data transports in future releases. MBN will support generic versions of American National Standards Institute (ANSI) X12-formatted documents such as the 810-invoice, 850-order request, and 856-ship notice, but MBS is committed to providing maps that translate any company-specific EDI implementations into the generic format. The product will also provide VAN-like functionality for direct XML-to-XML data exchange. However, Microsoft notes it has been in talks to provide a connection to at least one high-profile proprietary VAN, albeit which trading will involve additional customary charges (e.g., per document or per kilo-character of text) in addition to the purchase and subscription costs for MBN.
Besides traditional VAN support, MBN will also eventually provide support for emerging EDI Internet Integration standards, such as AS1 and AS2, as to meet the increasing demand for Internet delivery of EDI services rather than over proprietary VANs. Namely, while VAN-based EDI traffic has lately been flat by and large, Internet EDI transactions have been growing at an annual rate of over 50 percent. Specifically, during the past few years, a number of EDI suppliers have breathed new life into this old workhorse technology by developing offerings that use the Internet as the communications medium, eliminating the need for multiple VANs and driving the per-transaction cost downward.
Owing to those roots, the technology remains an expensive proposition with VANs functioning like sort of electronic toll roads, charging per document or kilo-characters of data. Amounts can quickly add up. Indeed, EDI has a reputation for being expensive to set up and run, given the companies had to deploy numerous VANs, which are essentially proprietary e-mail systems that store and deliver EDI-formatted documents. It drove their suppliers' network costs up and forced them to be proficient in various communications protocols.
Aside from the upfront cost of the EDI infrastructure software (such as, set-up fees and leased lines fees), companies choosing to go with a provider of VAN EDI networks, face additional costs in maintenance and transaction processing fees alone (i.e., interconnect costs). For the above reasons, one would expect companies to begin gravitating in droves toward extensible markup language (XML), Internet-based EDI, and related Web services for transaction communications. Therefore, MBS' intention with MBN has been to make the EDI process easier by removing at least one layer of the technical problem, so that its partners can then focus more on the business issues that the customer really cares about.
Accordingly, MBN will support generic EDI with XML standards, while it will also enable interoperability with other EDI standards and more traditional EDI data transports in future releases. MBN will support generic versions of American National Standards Institute (ANSI) X12-formatted documents such as the 810-invoice, 850-order request, and 856-ship notice, but MBS is committed to providing maps that translate any company-specific EDI implementations into the generic format. The product will also provide VAN-like functionality for direct XML-to-XML data exchange. However, Microsoft notes it has been in talks to provide a connection to at least one high-profile proprietary VAN, albeit which trading will involve additional customary charges (e.g., per document or per kilo-character of text) in addition to the purchase and subscription costs for MBN.
Besides traditional VAN support, MBN will also eventually provide support for emerging EDI Internet Integration standards, such as AS1 and AS2, as to meet the increasing demand for Internet delivery of EDI services rather than over proprietary VANs. Namely, while VAN-based EDI traffic has lately been flat by and large, Internet EDI transactions have been growing at an annual rate of over 50 percent. Specifically, during the past few years, a number of EDI suppliers have breathed new life into this old workhorse technology by developing offerings that use the Internet as the communications medium, eliminating the need for multiple VANs and driving the per-transaction cost downward.
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