Today’s post comes from Jason Pimentel, a Tech Support Specialist here at Inovis. Jason, a TrustedLink expert, has written a post on Bisynchronous communications. Enjoy!

As a longtime member of the Inovis Support team, I have seen the progression of TrustedLink System i communication options.  With the introduction of newer and faster communication methods, I have also seen that many customers are hesitant to make the jump away from legacy protocols such as Bisynch.  The resistance to change usually comes back to the old adage “if it ain’t broke….”, and as true as that may be, I think we are all responsible for comparing old vs. new technologies and choosing a plan of attack before a problem arises.

Image Source: http://www.endowmenteque.co.uk

Bisynchronous communications have been a staple with TLi users since the introduction of the product. Ten years ago, a 9600 BAUD dial-up connection was the norm and acceptable for most companies.  As a company’s trading community grows and their volume increases, many will find that Bisynch connection is the bottleneck in their day-to-day EDI operations with comm sessions running for an hour or more.  In addition to a slow rate of data transfer, users also face a decline in VAN support for bisynch as well as aging hardware.  A fair amount of the bisynch issues that our support team deals with is the result of a 20 year old modem failing.

Rather than waiting for that old modem to call it quits or your Value Added Network to discontinue support of the Bisynch Protocol I suggest weighing your options and identifying the benefits you might realize from newer functionality within TrustedLink.  With the latest release of TLi v6.3.0 your communication options will include FTP, FTPs, HTTPs (with the Inovis VAN) and AS1/AS2/AS3 when coupled with the BizManager product.

The time to think about your current technology is while it is still working.  Trying to migrate to a new protocol or finding a replacement modem for that old IBM 7855 at 2 AM on Sunday is enough to make even the most seasoned EDI veteran rethink their career path!

Image Source: http://www.ejc.net

This week, Tracey Robertson of the Inovis UK Solution Center contributed two great posts in regards to EDI.

The first one, entitled Where have all the AS400 machines gone? is a nostalgic look back at the history of AS400 and its evolution to its BladeCenter status today.

The second blog, Are you looking for a shiny new VAN? provides a few helpful pointers to companies seeking a new VAN service.

Are you a reader that is interested in finding out more about a particular topic? Leave us a comment or send us an e-mail with your request. We’d love to hear from you!

As many of you in the UK EDI world may have heard, BT EDINet has announced the closure of its VAN services on the 24^th February 2010. While this may be a while away, best to start looking for a new VAN now, to save any last minutes panics, especially if EDI is important to the running of your business.

If you received the letter from BT, then there are plenty of Companies listed that can help.

You can read Kewill’s response to BT EDI*Net Service closure announcement here.

Freeway Commerce, an Inovis Company, was not on the list. As a Freeway customer you may want to contact the Preston office directly.

Inovis can help by providing you access to InovisWorks, which is provided in a modern Tier 4 data centre with automated fail-over capabilities.

The Virtual Internet explains that “Data Centres can be classified by Tiers, with Tier 1 being the most basic and inexpensive, and Tier 4 being the most robust and costly.” So ask what Tier a VAN is hosted on before making a decision.

You can find out more from the Inovis web-site in the UK.

You might also be able to reduce you annual costs, as Deluxe Media has been able to do. You can read their story here.

Inovis is proud to announce that you can now follow our blog on the new and insightful Retail EDI website. Proudly proclaiming their motto, “learn + share = improve,” the website’s administrators and authors work hard to provide a plethora of insightful and practical content for those in the supply chain space. Whether you’re looking for news in retail, vendor management advice, case studies to read, or helpful info on topics such as SaaS and VANs, Retail EDI is your go-to site. You can also search industry jobs, EDI documents, and provide feedback to the website’s creators. We here at Inovis look forward to a long lasting collaboration of learning, sharing and improving.

Explore Retail EDI’s website>>

]]> http://tjs87.wordpress.com/2009/07/04/%d8%aa%d8%a7%d8%b1%d9%8a%d8%ae%da%86%d9%87-%d8%aa%d8%ac%d8%a7%d8%b1%d8%aa-%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%83%d8%aa%d8%b1%d9%88%d9%86%d9%8a%d9%83/ Sat, 04 Jul 2009 06:55:34 +0000 yaser hosseini http://tjs87.wordpress.com/2009/07/04/%d8%aa%d8%a7%d8%b1%d9%8a%d8%ae%da%86%d9%87-%d8%aa%d8%ac%d8%a7%d8%b1%d8%aa-%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%83%d8%aa%d8%b1%d9%88%d9%86%d9%8a%d9%83/ http://blogs.inovis.co.uk/2008/06/11/is-you-van-needing-an-overhaul/ Wed, 11 Jun 2008 13:49:14 +0000 trobertsoninovis http://blogs.inovis.co.uk/2008/06/11/is-you-van-needing-an-overhaul/

VAN – Value Added Network

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Value-added_network

Many companies have been running EDI systems for years and years. They set up their network connections at the beginning of the implementation and have continued to use this connection using an old modem sat gathering dust in a corner of the computer room

How long will it take for this dust to get into the electronics and the next thing is you can’t receive those ever important orders.

But why are you still using a modem in this day and age, when FTP and AS2 are faster and today’s VANs focus on providing a secure and dependable service?

Also think to yourself, is your current VAN providing you with the most cost-efficient option? You change your mobile provider to get the better deal, so why not your VAN? When changing VAN you should be able to migrate your existing Trading Partner base without any disruption to them or your business and reduce your annual costs in the process.

Matthew Pritchett, Manager of Implementations at Inovis, is the newest member of our blogging team. Matthew recently sent me his first blog post on VAN Migration. Enjoy!

In a VAN, down by the river…

So, now that I have your attention with this great Chris Farley line, I would like to talk about what happens when you want to live in a VAN down by the lake instead, a.k.a migrating VAN’s (Value Added Networks that is).

When the topic comes up about migrating to a new VAN, typically comments like “I have to setup a new connection?!? That means working with IT, firewall, 3rd party outsourced teams, etc and this will take a lot of work, time, and effort!” to “What about my data? Will it get lost? What’s the migration process? What do I have to do?” Below, I have tried to address many of the steps required in the migration process and some helpful hints to make your migration easier, faster, and less risky. Inovis has migrated many customers and we’ve been migrating customers for a really long time; so we’ve gotten pretty good at it. The great part about a migration is that it’s a team effort. The VAN and your company representative will work together every step of the way (at least that’s the way Inovis does it).

If you are considering migrating VAN’s, here are some questions to ask as well as a list of preliminary items to work on:

- What does my IT team think? Work with your IT team to understand what type connectivity they support and prefer.

- Who do I trade with? Identify your trading partners’ EDI ID/Qualifiers, VAN provider(s), contact information, etc. The more information you have, the better. I’ll explain why in a moment.

- Do I have any type special setups on my current VAN like blocking of data, carbon copies of data to a 3rd party, etc?

Migration process…

- Connectivity…

o Decide how

o Get it set up

o Test the connection and data formats

- Address special processing (optional depending on requirements)

- Notify trading partners and their VAN’s – this is where the trading partner contact information comes into play (Inovis completes this on the customer’s behalf)

- Go-Live

o Update your VAN connection to the new VAN.

o Confirm all changes at the VAN/TP levels.

- Monitoring

Again, the great part about the migration process is that the new setup is tried and true. At the point when you are comfortable with testing, the VAN schedules the migration of data with other VAN’s and partners, all the while keeping the customer informed and abreast of go-live. The key is to Think, Decide, and then Act—and doing all 3 with Inovis implementations and client representatives means success.

In an effort for you to help me, help you—and any other customers that are migrating—I’m curious…

What are your experiences with VAN migrations?
What’s the biggest pain point around VAN migrations?
If there were issues, what were they and how were they resolved?
What type helpful hints do you have for other customers that are planning or in the process of migrating?