All About B2B » AS2 http://www.gxsblogs.com Strength in Information. All Things B2B e-Commerce Thu, 23 Feb 2012 14:24:53 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 5 Considerations When Choosing between AS2 and FTP http://www.gxsblogs.com/rochellecohen/2011/11/5-considerations-when-choosing-between-as2-and-ftp.html http://www.gxsblogs.com/rochellecohen/2011/11/5-considerations-when-choosing-between-as2-and-ftp.html#comments Wed, 02 Nov 2011 15:46:40 +0000 Rochelle Cohen http://www.gxsblogs.com/?p=5869 AS2 and FTP are the most popular Internet Protocols used for B2B communications, but which is better for your community of business partners?  There are five critical factors you should consider when selecting between AS2 and FTP. 1. Encryption Each IP communications protocol takes a different approach to securing information (or not securing it at [...]

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]]> http://www.gxsblogs.com/rochellecohen/2011/11/5-considerations-when-choosing-between-as2-and-ftp.html/feed 0 EDI, XML and the Metric System http://www.gxsblogs.com/keifers/2011/10/edi-xml-and-the-metric-system.html http://www.gxsblogs.com/keifers/2011/10/edi-xml-and-the-metric-system.html#comments Tue, 04 Oct 2011 21:12:41 +0000 Steve Keifer http://www.gxsblogs.com/?p=5645 When people learn that I work in the B2B e-commerce sector one of the questions they always ask me is “Why are companies still using EDI?”  Most outsiders to the industry cannot understand why corporations continue to use an outdated standard developed in the 1960s.  The companies using EDI are by no means technology laggards.  [...]

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]]> http://www.gxsblogs.com/keifers/2011/10/edi-xml-and-the-metric-system.html/feed 0 Before AS2 – When VANs were King http://www.gxsblogs.com/keifers/2011/09/before-as2-when-vans-were-king.html http://www.gxsblogs.com/keifers/2011/09/before-as2-when-vans-were-king.html#comments Fri, 16 Sep 2011 02:18:47 +0000 Steve Keifer http://www.gxsblogs.com/?p=5523 In my last post I discussed the ninth anniversary of Walmart’s decision to switch to AS2.  The introduction of AS2 and Internet-based EDI technologies had a significant impact on the EDI VAN market.  Many people forget, but in the late 1980s and early 1990s the EDI VAN market was a big business backed by some [...]

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]]> http://www.gxsblogs.com/keifers/2011/09/before-as2-when-vans-were-king.html/feed 1 AS2 and Internet EDI – Nine Years Later http://www.gxsblogs.com/keifers/2011/09/as2-and-internet-edi-%e2%80%93-nine-years-later.html http://www.gxsblogs.com/keifers/2011/09/as2-and-internet-edi-%e2%80%93-nine-years-later.html#comments Fri, 09 Sep 2011 02:59:30 +0000 Steve Keifer http://www.gxsblogs.com/?p=5451 On September 9th, 2002 Walmart announced its intention to shift to a new Internet-based EDI system using technology from a small software company called iSoft. I like to refer to this event as the “shot heard ’round the world” in the EDI industry, because it dramatically changed the landscape for B2B communications. Walmart’s announcement had [...]

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]]> http://www.gxsblogs.com/keifers/2011/09/as2-and-internet-edi-%e2%80%93-nine-years-later.html/feed 0 We have more flavors of FTP than Baskin Robbins has Ice Cream http://www.gxsblogs.com/keifers/2011/07/we-have-more-flavors-of-ftp-than-baskin-robbins-has-ice-cream.html http://www.gxsblogs.com/keifers/2011/07/we-have-more-flavors-of-ftp-than-baskin-robbins-has-ice-cream.html#comments Wed, 06 Jul 2011 02:56:56 +0000 Steve Keifer http://www.gxsblogs.com/?p=5195 One aspect of the B2B e-commerce industry that I continue to find fascinating is the proliferation of standards.  I have written extensively in earlier posts about the long tail of B2B e-commerce messaging standards, which includes over 50 variants of EDI and XML technology.  But perhaps the most ridiculous example of proliferation can be found [...]

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]]> http://www.gxsblogs.com/keifers/2011/07/we-have-more-flavors-of-ftp-than-baskin-robbins-has-ice-cream.html/feed 1 Will AS4 Become the Communications Standard for Cloud Based Integration Services? http://www.gxsblogs.com/morleym/2010/11/will-as4-become-the-communications-standard-for-cloud-based-integration-services.html http://www.gxsblogs.com/morleym/2010/11/will-as4-become-the-communications-standard-for-cloud-based-integration-services.html#comments Tue, 30 Nov 2010 14:38:13 +0000 Mark Morley http://www.gxsblogs.com/?p=3612 2010 has certainly been the year when Cloud Computing has started to get on to the agenda of many CIOs around the world. Nearly every major ICT related conference discusses Cloud Computing in some shape or form, whether it is to do with the infrastructure to support it or the applications that run within the [...]

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]]> http://www.gxsblogs.com/morleym/2010/11/will-as4-become-the-communications-standard-for-cloud-based-integration-services.html/feed 0 Starbucks Coffee Company – Now an AS2 Certified Software Product? http://www.gxsblogs.com/keifers/2010/06/starbucks-coffee-company-now-an-as2-certified-software-product.html http://www.gxsblogs.com/keifers/2010/06/starbucks-coffee-company-now-an-as2-certified-software-product.html#comments Tue, 22 Jun 2010 02:25:53 +0000 Steve Keifer http://www.gxsblogs.com/?p=2627 Last week the Drummond Group announced its most recent round of AS2 certified technology vendors.  Many of the usual suspects were included in this group of 19 technology vendors.  But there was one newcomer, which caught my attention – “Starbucks Coffee Company.”  You might ask – Why would the world’s largest and most successful coffee [...]

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]]> http://www.gxsblogs.com/keifers/2010/06/starbucks-coffee-company-now-an-as2-certified-software-product.html/feed 1 B2B e-Commerce and the Mechanical Turk of the Supply Chain http://www.gxsblogs.com/keifers/2010/03/b2b-e-commerce-and-the-mechanical-turk-of-the-supply-chain.html http://www.gxsblogs.com/keifers/2010/03/b2b-e-commerce-and-the-mechanical-turk-of-the-supply-chain.html#comments Thu, 11 Mar 2010 06:47:07 +0000 Steve Keifer http://www.gxsblogs.com/keifers/2010/03/b2b-e-commerce-and-the-mechanical-turk-of-the-supply-chain.html Many IT and supply chain executives operate under the assumption that once you connect your ERP systems to those of your trading partners via B2B e-Commerce information flows seamlessly through the value chain enabling superior levels of demand planning, inventory management and supply chain execution.  While this is a reasonable assumption, a closer examination of [...]

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]]> http://www.gxsblogs.com/keifers/2010/03/b2b-e-commerce-and-the-mechanical-turk-of-the-supply-chain.html/feed 1 80% of Manufacturers Experience 1% or Greater Error Processing for Supply Chain Transactions http://www.gxsblogs.com/keifers/2010/03/80-of-manufacturers-experience-1-or-greater-error-processing-for-supply-chain-transactions.html http://www.gxsblogs.com/keifers/2010/03/80-of-manufacturers-experience-1-or-greater-error-processing-for-supply-chain-transactions.html#comments Mon, 08 Mar 2010 13:22:53 +0000 Steve Keifer http://www.gxsblogs.com/keifers/2010/03/80-of-manufacturers-experience-1-or-greater-error-processing-for-supply-chain-transactions.html In 2009 GXS worked with AMR Research to conduct a study on the inter-relationships of B2B e-commerce deployments and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) projects.  One of the issues we explored was the level of exception processing required for supply chain transactions that flow directly from a B2B gateway into an ERP system.  AMR’s study found [...]

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]]> http://www.gxsblogs.com/keifers/2010/03/80-of-manufacturers-experience-1-or-greater-error-processing-for-supply-chain-transactions.html/feed 0 B2B E-Commerce – A Look Back at the Past 10 Years http://www.gxsblogs.com/keifers/2009/12/b2b-e-commerce-a-look-back-at-the-past-10-years.html http://www.gxsblogs.com/keifers/2009/12/b2b-e-commerce-a-look-back-at-the-past-10-years.html#comments Tue, 15 Dec 2009 17:47:24 +0000 Steve Keifer http://www.gxsblogs.com/keifers/2009/12/b2b-e-commerce-a-look-back-at-the-past-10-years.html Each of the past few years, GXS has published a list of predictions for the coming year.  But with less than 20 days remaining until the start of a new decade I thought that we should take a different approach this year.  I asked a group of eight GXS Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) to write [...]

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]]> http://www.gxsblogs.com/keifers/2009/12/b2b-e-commerce-a-look-back-at-the-past-10-years.html/feed 2 New AS2 Restart and the Fall of the Berlin Wall http://www.gxsblogs.com/keifers/2009/11/new-as2-restart-and-the-fall-of-the-berlin-wall.html http://www.gxsblogs.com/keifers/2009/11/new-as2-restart-and-the-fall-of-the-berlin-wall.html#comments Fri, 13 Nov 2009 13:02:49 +0000 Steve Keifer http://www.gxsblogs.com/keifers/2009/11/new-as2-restart-and-the-fall-of-the-berlin-wall.html The answer to the large file transfer problem in B2B may finally be emerging.  Earlier this week, the Drummond Group announced a new initiative called AS2 Restart.  Restart would allow users of AS2 to exchange messages with very large payloads (up to multi-gigabytes) using an open-standard, vendor-neutral approach.  This could be the beginning of the [...]

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]]> http://www.gxsblogs.com/keifers/2009/11/new-as2-restart-and-the-fall-of-the-berlin-wall.html/feed 3 M&A and Consolidation in the B2B Service Provider Market http://www.gxsblogs.com/keifers/2009/11/ma-and-consolidation-in-the-b2b-service-provider-market.html http://www.gxsblogs.com/keifers/2009/11/ma-and-consolidation-in-the-b2b-service-provider-market.html#comments Tue, 03 Nov 2009 15:17:43 +0000 Steve Keifer http://www.gxsblogs.com/keifers/2009/11/ma-and-consolidation-in-the-b2b-service-provider-market.html In my last post, I discussed the recently released Forrester Wave on B2B Service Providers.  One of the aspects of the report that I found most interesting was the detailed history of the 12 service providers evaluated.  I find the M&A history in the B2B vendor community to be fascinating.  Several major telecommunications and IT [...]

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]]> http://www.gxsblogs.com/keifers/2009/11/ma-and-consolidation-in-the-b2b-service-provider-market.html/feed 0 B2B Service Provider Market is now Wave-Worthy http://www.gxsblogs.com/keifers/2009/11/b2b-service-provider-market-is-now-wave-worthy.html http://www.gxsblogs.com/keifers/2009/11/b2b-service-provider-market-is-now-wave-worthy.html#comments Mon, 02 Nov 2009 22:17:37 +0000 Steve Keifer http://www.gxsblogs.com/keifers/2009/11/b2b-service-provider-market-is-now-wave-worthy.html This past Thursday, Forrester Research published a Wave on B2B Service Providers.  The new report is noteworthy, in that this Wave is focused exclusively on providers of services (versus software) in the B2B segment (versus EAI).  Historically, Forrester had published an "Integration Suites" Wave, which included all the providers of both software and services and [...]

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]]> http://www.gxsblogs.com/keifers/2009/11/b2b-service-provider-market-is-now-wave-worthy.html/feed 0 Star Trek and AS2 http://www.gxsblogs.com/keifers/2009/05/star-trek-and-as2.html http://www.gxsblogs.com/keifers/2009/05/star-trek-and-as2.html#comments Mon, 04 May 2009 23:31:41 +0000 Steve Keifer http://www.gxsblogs.com/keifers/2009/05/star-trek-and-as2.html This week is the premier of the new Star Trek movie.  Star Trek has now joined X-Men, Star Wars and other films in the strategy of using prequels to reinvigorate a motion picture series.   The newest Star Trek movie shows the early history of James T. Kirk during his period before, during and after enlisting at Starfleet Academy.  [...]

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]]> http://www.gxsblogs.com/keifers/2009/05/star-trek-and-as2.html/feed 2 What will the next ASX standard be? http://www.gxsblogs.com/keifers/2009/03/what-will-the-next-asx-standard-be.html http://www.gxsblogs.com/keifers/2009/03/what-will-the-next-asx-standard-be.html#comments Wed, 04 Mar 2009 22:52:50 +0000 Steve Keifer http://www.gxsblogs.com/keifers/2009/03/what-will-the-next-asx-standard-be.html By ASX, I am referring to the Applicability Statements 1-4, which are popular standards for exchanging electronic documents between business partners.  Each of ASX standards have been modeled off a popular Internet protocol.  The introduction of a new number in the ASX standards is not intended to replace prior versions.  Instead, each release AS1, AS2, [...]

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