AS2 - Buy now or later? 2

[xsmwh]

We are in the process of contacting the Drummand certified AS2 providers. We would like to connect with 50+ trading partners. However, with the pricing stucture at a per trading partner level, I am not sure whether we should jump in to the fray immediately, or wait until competition brings the price down.

I have been told the price can range from $3000 - $250,000?
Can one software be that much better than another? We will be running on RS6000.

Anyone's input is greatly appreciated.

 

[eccom]

I am also interested in reviewing comments about certified AS2 software vendors. I’m particularly interested in hearing your views on why you chose your AS2 provider, the ease of implementation (any surprises?), customer service and most importantly your over all satisfaction with their product.

I too will be running Unix AIX. Your reply is appreciated.


XWMWH, I am under the impression the cost variance between providers maybe due to extended services included in their package (not sure though). Since AS2 has not been personally mandated, I too am weighting the option to purchase now or hope the cost will decline and purchase later.

 

[edianalyst]

We have Cleo's Lexicom with a license that allows unlimited 'AS2' TPs, however to use the other protocols such as FTP, there would be an additional fee, but similarly, you can get unlimited TP licenses per protocol. I would say the Lexicom software is very reasonably priced compared to other products and their customer service has pretty quick responses most of the time. We run ours on Windows but I think Lexicom is written in completely Java, hope this helps.

 

[xsmwh]

edianalyst,

Thanks for your response. Could you address the installation process? How long was the process? How difficult is the defining of new TP's? Also, you stated their customer service has pretty quick responses. Is the software pretty stable or will we need a full time person to babysit the product?

.....Anyone else with opinions on their AS2 solution? I've heard Trailblazer is the way to go for AS400 but what about AIX?

 

[ls62]

Hi,

We too are going with Cleo's Lexicom product running on a WinNT machine. I've just completed the installation and it was very simple. They have pre-configured as2 TP's that you can use as a base as well as the ability to setup your own tp if you want. Tech support has been good and pretty responsive. I'm not so sure about the earlier statement that you have unlimited 'as2' tp's. I was under the impression that you paid for each one or blocks of tp licenses. Overall cost was very reasonable compared to some of the other products I checked into.

Basically my setup is that the Lexicom product runs on the WinNT machine and files received or sent are located on our Unix server on the local LAN. Lexicom software can be setup to put or pull files networked directories. Our Gentran software running the the unix machine then process the files as needed.

Hope this help.

LEE

 

[edianalyst]

xsmwh,

The installation process was very simple, and like Lee said, there're various pre-configured hosts that you can use as the base and make necessary changes, clone, then activate, it's as simple as that. The software is pretty stable and once it's setup, I haven't had to fix it or whatsoever

 

[edisky]

Hi edianalyst,

did you setup for another TP? IF you did, you are supposed to choose another pot number for the new TP, right? please give me some thread.Thanks

 

[ls62]

edisky,

The way I understand it.. is that for outbound connections (data you send) your TP will specify the port to connect to and you can set that up on the host/general tab. That port may/may not be the same for various TP's. On the inbound connection (data from your TP) you have only one as2 listener running and you can specify a port for http and https, the defaults are 5080 & 6080. You have to let your TP know what port to send to YOU on (5080). All TPs using AS2 have to send to you on that port because that's where the as2 software is expecting connections. Based upon the as2 envelope the lexicom product will determine which host mailbox to put the file into (as2-to, as2-from combination).

This is how I understood it to work and I'm just starting, but with the two tp's that I have been testing with the above concept seems to hold true. If this doesn't work for you I would suggest you discuss with cleo support or let me know more detail and I'll try and help.

LEE

 

[edianalyst]

Yeah, I agree with Lee, as you only need 1 AS2 listener for all of your incoming AS2 connections.

 

[edigentrannt]

I think you should try IPNET Solutions they have a pretty good software for AS2 and AS1 connection. Call Nathan Skivar @ 949-838-1033 in IPNET.

 

[ncquest]

Hi,

I'm new at this AS2 thing. We are a service bureau and can't decide what software to use. we are now in contact with Btrade! do someone knows the performance of this software solution?

thanks

 

[ls62]

ncquest,

I would suggest you carefully look into multiple AS2 providers. My limited experience has shown that cost and features can vary greatly and you have to consider on going cost for maintenance, additional host/trading partners and platform. Nothing against Btrade, but they seemed expensive compared to some of the other options. There are quite a few now that you can look into, we've check into isoft and cleo and decided on using cleo lexicom. You can go to the following web site to view a list of other certified as2 software providers:

http://www.drummondgroup.com/html-v2/products-as2.html

Good luck.
LEE

 

[ncquest]

ls62,

Thanks for your reply, we were told by Btrade that the software TDAccess would cost $2,500 which can handle 10 trading partner-vendor setup w/ a $350 enabling cost for every partner.

Noe my question is, how would this pricing compare to other solutions with the similar functions from other AS2 providers such as Trail Blazer, Cleo Lexicomm, etc...

The other thing is that Cleo is not certified with Linens and Things which is one major HUB that we are dealing with.

Your thoughts on this would be highly appreciated.

http://www.edi-service.com

 

[Jennym1]

Our company has been using ISoft with multiple trading partners and so far it's been pretty good software. We went with them for our AS2 set up because most of our larger Retailers were using them already. Just thought I'd throw it out there as an alternative. They have the Drummand Certification.

 

[ls62]

ncquest,

I'm not sure what situation your in and type of business, but here's my thought.

Well, as you know pricing always varies on how bad they want your business, negotiations, and platform. At thetime I looked into btrade (a year ago) for sco unix platform it was around 4,000 for license and 1 tp (and that was with 50% discount on license). Offhand I don't know what the additional fee was for more TPs.

I don't recall TP limits, but I would be concerned if they said it could only handle 10 trading partners...(that's not many). It depends on your need, I would think almost all edi capable business would want to go this route since it cuts van costs.

We ended up choosing cleo costing < $2000 with 2 host/tp's running on NT platform.

I'm not familar with trailblazer.

I'm guessing that Linens and Things is one of your customers, why would they need to 'certify' your as2 ediint software. It's already certified as compliant by Drummond and as long as their end is compliant they should work together. I know sometimes things like this don't matter and you have to do 'what and how the customer' wants. What would you do if each of your customers choose which software you should use and what if the one that these guys support isn't supported by another ... etc. I don't think you want to buy the ediint software from several companies because one says they only support &quot;A&quot; product while another supports &quot;B&quot;. It really shouldn't matter to them whats at your end.

 

[ncquest]

ls62,

Thanks again for your reply.

We are a service bureau which do the EDI stuff for various vendors. Thats the business we are in. As it is we need more that 10 TPs/setup to accomodate the growing number of our clients dealing with Trading Hubs that require or switching to AS2 EDIINT from the traditional VAN (which we are still doing for the majority of our clients).

Well thanks again for your inputs...

http://www.edi-service.com

 

[edijos]

When using AS2 you can decide to encrypt the message or not.
If I decide to interchange encrypted messages then I need to have and maintain all certificates from all my partners in my system to make that possible.
There is also the possibility to send /receive messages via https. In that case the message will go encrypted over the internet but there is no need to have all these certificates in my system.
Please tell me if I'm wrong?
What wil be the advantage from first over the second option ?

 

[TechResearch]

Hi edijos,

With SSL, if you are only validating the server you won't need to have the server's certificate stored in your system, the certificate will be send to you when the session is being stablished. If the server requieres client certificate validation, then you will need to have a valid certificate in your system.

Using SSL you only need to have your certificate (if needed, otherwise you won't need a certificate at all). So, you are right when you say you don't need to have all those certificates in your system.

SSL encrypts the session, whilst AS2 security (PKI framework) encrypts the payload (content or data) you are sending. They both offer enough security regarding the privacy, authenticity and integrity of the connection.

One advantage SSL offers over signed and encrypted messages is the authentication of the connection itself, so, the system resources are available only after authentication, if you are not authenticated, you can not go on with the communication.

Using signing and encryption, the system still needs to process what is getting over the communication channel, even if you don't have a trading relationship with the sender.

HTTPS helps the system from getting overloaded with unauthorized traffic(spam or denial of service attack) but it does take more bandwidth and processing cycles.

If you use HTTPS(SSL), you should not use signing and encryption and vice versa, they are kind of redundant, and using both will result in an unnecessary use or resources.

HTTP used with signature and encryption usually provides better security and is less intensive with your system resources.

HTTPS is a better option if you are concerned with spam.

 

[ebiz]

I strongly recommend Gentran Integration Suite/AS2 from Sterling Commerce. Check their website:

http://www.sterlingcommerce.com

 

[JayV]

ebiz,

Don't you need an app server for that? $$$

Do you(Sterling) have any non-J2EE solutions?

Thanks