eBusiness Technologies - Value Added Networks

Definition:

Value Added Network (VAN) - A privately owned network that provides a services for a fees. A Value Added Network usually offers some service or information that is not readily available on public networks. Today's VANs offer a lengthy list of services.

History

The history of VANs has been tightly coupled with the history of the traditional EDI standards up until recently, so much so that many believed that a VAN was required for EDI, and that VANs could handle only the traditional EDI formats. In fact, this was never true. That common history is described in Implemenation Options - "Traditional" EDI via a VAN.

VANs in the Internet Age (the "modern" VAN)

As companies have implemented internet-based communication systems and expanded to multiple internet-enabled trading partners, they have been experiencing first-hand the effort and cost of point-to-point communications which allow trading partners to exchange files directly. Instead of replacing EDI, many companies are now leaving their existing EDI in place. The vast majority of EDI files exchanged between trading partners are currently processed via VANs. Some companies are sending and receiving their X12 or EDIFACT EDI files via the internet. Furthermore, for internet commerce, companies are now outsourcing the trading partner internet connectivity to third parties in order to eliminate the effort and cost of point-to-point communications via the internet. Whether or not those third parties call themselves VANs, the service offerings are exactly the same as the traditional service offerings of EDI VANs, and most of the service providers are the same companies that have historically offered EDI VAN services.

VAN Services

Most Vans offer most of these services:

• A variety of communications options
• Electronic mailboxing
• Protocol conversion
• Character set conversion, such as converting ASCII characters to EBCDIC characters
• Transmission record-keeping to provide audit trails
• Security- Privacy, Authentication, Data integrity and Non-repudiation
• Storage of transmission data and retrieval services
• Consulting services, including trading partner implementation assistance
• Gateway services (c.f. Data Exchange Service Provider), including:
  • Mapping (conversion/parsing/translation) services
    • Many VANs provide services for mapping to/from a variety of XML standards as well as to/from the traditional EDI formats
    • Larger companies have traditionally preferred to develop their own in-house mapping services
  • Routing, tracking and audit services
  • Validation
    • The companies doing their own mapping typically do their own validation, too.  EIDX recommends that companies validate their own outbound files, rather than transferring the burden of error resolution to the recipient.
• Interconnects to other VANs
• Internet browsing
• Transaction/message broadcasts
• EDI to e-mail conversion
• EDI to fax conversion
• Electronic catalogs
• And more.

VAN Communications

Communications with your VAN are synchronous(2) - your VAN's network must be up and running in order for you to communication with your VAN. However, one benefit of using a VAN is that it allows for asynchronous(2) communications with your trading partners - you can deposit data even if your trading partners and/or their VANs are not on-line at the same time, and your partners can retrieve data even if you are not on-line at the same time.  When it comes to support for communication modes, most VANs can support both asynchronous(2) and synchronous(2) data transfer modes, and some VANs still support bisynchronous transfers.

Connection Options

The EDI standards do not specify how EDI data is to be transmitted to a trading partner.  Bulk file transfer protocols (e.g., bisynchronous and asynchronous) are used to convey the majority of EDI traffic.

The legacy connections to VANs were leased lines and dial-up. Value Added Network's very high-volume customers typically purchased leased lines (a/k/a dedicated lines) for the network access.  In the past, analog lines were used for connection to the VAN's private network but today a T1 or T3 can be used to connect to the VAN's Virtual Private Network. Dial-up direct connection to the VAN is still supported, and various internet connection options can also be used to connect to a VAN. In the legacy solution, to trade electronically, the receiving partner used to be required have a lease-line or dialup to the same VAN as the sender, or a VAN that had an interconnection agreement with the sender's VAN. The change is that the receiving partner may have a number of options, including receiving files via the internet, or logging into the VAN's web site and browsing the data online.

Communications Scripts for Connections to VAN's Private Network

• The script is a predefined routine or set of commands that provide processing instructions to the VAN's host computer. The VAN script coordinates actions such as:
  • Dialing into the VAN's network service
  • Identifying the login name and password of the subscriber
  • Downloading any data that has been transmitted from a trading partner and is waiting in the subscriber's mailbox
  • Uploading any data to be delivered to the subscriber's trading partners
  • There is no standard set of commands for communicating with VANs; a script that operates with one VAN might not operate with a different VAN. When purchasing a communications-enabled translator, a user should determine whether the software includes a script for communicating with the desired VAN. If the user has not yet selected a VAN, gateway products that provide scripts for all major VANs are available.
• There may be three scripts - one that just deposits messages, one that just retrieves messages, and one that both deposits and retrieves messages. You can vary when each script executes based on your transmission volumes and off-peak pricing options.
• Because each VAN service has developed its own mailboxing system, if you buy a gateway package, you should select a product that includes a communications script written specifically for the VAN that you plan to use. If you have not selected a VAN yet, you should consider a product that offers scripts for several different VANs.
• The most common method for connecting to a VAN for many years was a dial-up connection using an analog modem; for large companies, a dedicated line was used. There are still some companies that connect to a VAN this way, but it is all but replaced now by new technologies which make it possible to connect to a VAN via a digital line to the internet or via a direct digital connection to the VAN to send and receive the same EDI files that you can send and receive via traditional connection methods, as well as send and receive files formatted in an XML standard.
• Not all VANs can handle all modem protocols. If you do not already have communications hardware, such as a modem, your VAN should be able to recommend some choices and have available any of the scripts that go with the communications hardware you select. If you already have a modem, find out if the VAN can support the necessary communications protocols that the modem uses.

Communications Protocols for Traditional EDI

Historically, the high end EDI VANs allow customers to connect to EDI services using many types of protocols such as asynchronous connections, bisynchronous connections (e.g., 2780/3780 Remote Job Entry (IBM mainframe emulation), SNA (e.g., 3770), Organization for Data Exchange through Tele-Transmission in Europe File Transfer Protocol (ODETTE FTP), X.25, X.400 and X.435. Most EDI VANs also provide access using switched and dedicated connections.

Manual Transmissions

Although the scheduled transmission of EDI data is a desirable function, permitting a user to manually start the communications process is also useful. Manual control of the communications software facilitates its initial configuration and aids with correcting communication errors.

Communications Audit Trail

A communications audit trail provides the user with a log detailing the transmission of each interchange. Information typically provided with an audit trail includes: times, dates, identifiers, acknowledgments, errors encountered, etc. Audit trails are useful for debugging transmission problems, generating reports, and verifying that an interchange was sent or received by a trading parter.

VAN Security

Historically, the security requirements have been applied globally, rather than on a file-by-file basis.  All files to and from the VAN receive the same level of security. Because VANs handle data for financial institutions and government agencies, what you get with a VAN is the highest possible level of security. It has worked so well for so long that a lot of us forgot it was there. A great deal of the development of internet standards has focused on enabling the same very high level of security.

Flat Addressing - Impact on Registration

While internet addresses, which describe domains hierarchically, are registered on Domain Name Servers (DNS), the VAN-based X12 and EDIFACT protocols use flat addressing. When you send an interchange to a VAN via dial-up to a partner who is on a different VAN, your VAN must do a table lookup to figure out what VAN the receiving party is using. Unlike DNS, the addresses are not automatically distributed to other VANs. If you use only X12 or EDIFACT via dial-up to a VAN (as opposed to using the internet to connect to a VAN or connect directly to a trading partner), your trading partner must contact their VAN and have them add your address and VAN identifier to their lookup table.

Protocol Translation

VAN services for protocol translation include internet protocols. For example, if you use only dial-up modem protocol, and your partner speaks S-HTTP, you can speak dial-up modem with the VAN, who translate it to speak S-HTTP with your partner. VANs can also take care of speed conversion so that dissimilar hardware systems can communicate.