There is an excellent post today on the Beacon EDI Blog. I thought I would share this on this list because I know there are people on this list who have over 30 years EDI experience and remember the days when EDI software packages were just being created.
You can the whole blog post here: https://beaconedi.com/edi-blog EDI Saga In The 1980s and 1990s Today's Multi-Billion Dollar EDI software industry experienced major growth in the 1980s. The world of EDI is very small and the early pioneers of EDI still have a big impact on the solutions being used everyday. Giving credit where it's due: The source for some (NOT ALL) of the information in this post is thanks to Ralph Notto's book Challenge and Consequence: Forcing Change to eCommerce - this is an excellent read for anyone interested in the history and evolution of EDI. Here is the link to his book: http://www.amazon.com/Ralph-W.-Notto/e/B001K8A9GG/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_pop_1 Sterling Software Dallas, TX based Sterling Williams along with two wealthy entrepreneurs Sam and Charles Wyly founded Sterling Software in 1981. Their agenda was to acquire as many EDI-releveat companies as possible. St. Paul Software (now SPS Commerce) At the same time, while Sterling Williams was building Sterling Software, Gary Anderson started a family-based 20 people EDI software company in St. Paul known as St. Paul Software (later renamed to SPS Commerce). What do the 1980s, 3M, FORESIGHT EDISIM, Gentran and SPS Commerce Have In Common? A 1986 company called "EDI Solutions" EDI Solutions, Inc While Sterling and St. Paul Software were growing, in 1986 - Dick York and associates founded "EDI Solutions" and made a mainframe based-product called "GENTRAN". They had a key customer The 3M Company. By this point Sterling Software was riding the The 1980s Merger Wave and acquired the rights to the source code of the EDI Solution Inc's mainframe GENTRAN product. This is how the GENTRAN family originated on IBM's MVS mainframe platform. Robert Fisher was the director of Sterling's Interchange Software group. Robert Fisher later became president and CEO of FORESIGHT Corp, which makes an excellent EDI reference data dictionary product called "EDISIM". Fast-forward, nine years later St. Paul Software (SPS) acquired EDI Solutions, Inc in 1995. Here is the content from the 1995 Press Release: ST. PAUL, Minn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 20, 1995--St. Paul Software, a leading supplier of UNIX and PC-based electronic data interchange (EDI) products and services and EDI Solutions Inc., a subsidiary of Maersk Data USA Inc., located in Bloomington, Minnesota, announce the signing of a Letter of Intent to merge. "This will be a marriage of two EDI companies that serve different segments of the EDI market," said Gary Anderson, president of St. Paul Software. St. Paul Software is a leader with its UNIX-based products and EDI Solutions with its mainframe and mid-range products. "The combined company will be in a position to better serve its existing customers with expanded products and services and more effectively advance into the emerging Electronic Commerce marketplace." "We envision the merger as two companies working together as one entity to provide an expanded offering of products and services to the Electronic Commerce marketplace. Our lines of products and services complement each other and we anticipate the expansion of both product lines." Said Dee Thibodeau, president of EDI Solutions. "Maersk and EDI Solutions believe this merger will strengthen our standing in the market and should be viewed as a positive step towards meeting the continuing needs of our customers." states S. Anker Madsen, CEO of EDI Solutions Inc. and from the Maersk Data Group. Maersk Data is a company in the A.P. Moeller group, a world leader in the shipping industry. Gary Anderson, president and CEO of the newly merged companies, stated, "I am excited to put these two companies together and bring Maersk onboard as St. Paul Software's largest minority shareholder." The parties anticipate completing the due diligence and approval by their respective shareholders by August 31, 1995. About EDI Solutions... Founded in 1986, EDI Solutions Inc. (EDIS) is a privately-held computer software company in the Maersk Data Group, specializing in the development, support and marketing of EDI translation software products and services for realtime, event-driven and batch environments. The Minneapolis-based firm's software operates on HP, IBM, DEC, UNIX, and PC systems. To complement their translation systems, EDI Solutions also offers application interface development, integration assistance, a communications gateway, and product training. EDIS has over 350 systems installed for companies located in North America as well as several systems in Europe and the Pacific Rim. ------------------------------------ ... Please use the following Message Identifiers as your subject prefix: <SALES>, <JOBS>, <LIST>, <TECH>, <MISC>, <EVENT>, <OFF-TOPIC> Job postings are welcome, but for job postings or requests for work: <JOBS> IS REQUIRED in the subject line as a prefix.Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/EDI-L/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/EDI-L/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: [email protected] [email protected] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [email protected] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
