Original publication date: December, 2005
As increasing numbers of large-volume, high-profile trading partners begin exchanging business documents over the Internet, data security has become a crucial component of these exchanges. A commonly used standard for securing Internet-transmitted EDI data, produced by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), is applicability statement 2 (AS2).
The EDIINT AS2 standard is built upon S/MIME security features and uses HTTP or HTTPS to transmit data over the Internet. AS2's use of encryption and digital signatures ensures the authentication, message integrity, nonrepudiation, and privacy of the EDI data.
If one of your trading partner's is requesting AS2 compliance, you may not need to look any further than the Softshare EDI application you're already using! Both of Softshare's EDI communications applications, Softshare ECS and Softshare Vista, support AS2. Softshare ECS, our e-commerce server, natively supports the AS2 standard.
Softshare Vista, our Windows-based desktop EDI application, can be enhanced with a custom AS2 bridge that links Vista to a third-party AS2 application such as Cleo Lexicom. With a third-party AS2 application, Vista users can securely exchange EDI documents over the Internet with any trading partner requiring AS2 connectivity.
In addition to providing direct AS2 connectivity to your trading partners via ECS or Vista, Softshare has begun establishing AS2 network communities with large companies that are rolling out AS2. In an AS2 network community arrangement, AS2 connectivity happens over Softshare's network instead of at your desktop via a software application. You continue to use our EDI software to view, create, and pass EDI data to our network and we take it from there, handling all the details of AS2 compliance on our network, including EDI data encryption/decryption and the exchange of MDNs.
To date, Softshare has successfully established AS2 network communities with Cardinal Health, Dollar General, EDICT, GS1 (formerly EAN of Austria), Meijer, Safeway, T-Systems (Mercedes-Benz Mexico), and Tri-anim Health Services. In the near future, Softshare is scheduled to begin AS2 network testing with Anna's Linens, Circuit City, and PETsMART.
Contact us! We'll figure out which Softshare AS2 solution is right for you and help you every step of the way.