In a previous position (2 years ago), I had a chance to evaluate IPnet's
"solution" and it is, indeed, a rather slick message
management/communication package, very flexible and robust, I thought.
I didn't take a look at the translation portion, as we weren't going to
switch translators, but what I saw was pretty neat (although for budget
reasons, not purchased) and was most definitely a VAN replacement, first
and foremost, I'd say. It would be nice to get some solid info, because
I am sure the business people who read this article will now be
expecting even faster monkeys pulled out of ever tighter behinds ;)
Just my 2 cents.
Leah
-----Original Message-----
From: William J. Kammerer [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: Wednesday, August 15, 2001 3:03 PM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: JB Hunt and EDI to XML (and more) conversion
Steve X Lee doesn't question the "big blue sky." He (or somebody he
knows) was "actually involved" (presumably in the installation of IPNet
Solutions' product or services at J.B. Hunt). So he's clearly "in the
know." The rest of us are left scratching our heads after reading
Richard Karpinski's article in Internet Week.
Dear Steve:
I only know what I saw in the article. But just in case there's more to
the story, as you seem to imply, I took a look at IPNet Solutions' press
release. Vendors never lose a chance to issue a puff piece - and this
is usually the primary source researched by the lazy press. Often the
incestuous relationship between the press and vendor marketing
departments is a case of the blind leading the blind, and the original
puff piece is seldom more enlightening. In this case, I was pleasantly
surprised: IPNet Solutions actually told the truth, or at least
something that is marginally plausible:
"Based on open standards, eBizness Transact will allow
J.B. Hunt's suppliers to communicate and transact
business via any standard browser or transport protocol
including VAN, Internet, FTP, SMTP, HTTP and HTTP/S.
IPNet's e-business solution will make it possible for
J.B. Hunt to quickly and seamlessly exchange data with
its entire supplier base, while supporting AS1/AS2
security standards."
See http://www.ipnetsolutions.com/news/pressreleases/073101a.php. I saw
no blather about dumping EDI in IPNet Solutions' press release, so I
imagine that's just something Karpinski pulled out of his ass when he
said "J.B. Hunt will move away from EDI formats... toward open data
formats, like XML"
I do see the buzzwords "AS1" and "AS2" in the vendor press release,
confirming what I initially guessed at: J.B. Hunt is now EDIINT enabled.
Throw in the "VAN, Internet, FTP, SMTP, HTTP and HTTP/S" and it sounds
like what every other capable Internet EDI package provides. Internet
Week says "[the] deployment... will cost [J.B. Hunt] about $200,000,"
which I assume is principally made up of the cost of the IPNet
Solutions package; this is somewhat in line with the cost of equivalent
solutions, further confirming we're dealing with an EDIINT communication
package. Expensive and labor-intensive as these packages are, it does
seem reasonable that you can obtain a fifteen-month ROI payback "through
elimination of costly VAN fees."
William J. Kammerer
Rachel Foerster & Associates, Ltd.
Columbus, US-OH
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