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by Alan Alper, MA Editorial Staff Posted on Friday, May 19, 2006 8:54:00 AM   It wasn't long ago -- the late 1990s, in fact -- that industry pundits said value-added network (VAN) providers focused on B2B electronic document interchange (EDI) services were destined for the scrap heap. Their proprietary networks were expensive to operate and challenging to use, prompting many to predict they would soon be rendered obsolete by up-and-coming Internet-enabled B2B service providers. Well, a funny thing happened on the way to oblivion: VANs embraced open, Internet technologies to deliver Web-form-driven EDI and have moved upstream into all forms of on-demand services that help business small and large more efficiently synchronize supply chain activities with partners across the globe. In fact, one of the grand dames of the VAN world, GXS (Gaithersburg, MD), recently unveiled a partnership with Microsoft Corp. that reflects its continuing push to remain vital to companies seeking a way to manage the burgeoning ranks of globally dispersed suppliers from the familiar confines of the desktop PCs. The former General Electronic Co. EDI service provider once known as GEIS (now owned by private equity capital firm Francisco Partners) is standardizing on the software giant's foundation technologies and industry-standard XML to enable customers to exchange supplier data via the Internet. It is embracing Microsoft's BizTalk Server for business process integration, SQL Server database and the upcoming Microsoft Office 2007 as the underpinnings of its "Trading Grid" Internet service that the two companies will jointly market with the help of Microsoft's global network of resellers of its Dynamics business software. [Click to continue] |