New data exchange standard could cut costs
By Brian Carroll -- Furniture Today, October 12, 2003
High Point — A new alternative to traditional electronic data interchange called AS2 could become standard for a furniture industry eager to connect electronically, according to Internet company executives.
AS2, the acronym for Applicability Statement 2, is a data transport standard used to securely exchange business information via the Internet. Compared with traditional EDI and the carrier charges associated with EDI, AS2 promises to cost trading partners much less.
"There seems to be a lot of interest and emphasis in AS2 lately," said Manoj Nigam, president of Exim Technologies, who spoke about AS2 technology at a meeting of the Furniture Industry Data Exchange. "We believe that it will take a few years before AS2 becomes an industry standard, being that both sides (of a transaction) will have to communicate in AS2. But it is a technology that can result in substantial savings for e-business."
Underlining AS2's potential in furniture, FurnishNet's e-commerce platform has begun accepting and sending electronic documents carried over the Internet by the AS2 protocol, including those between Wal-Mart and its furniture suppliers.
FurnishNet implemented the transport standard as part of its work to electronically connect those suppliers to Wal-Mart, which is pushing AS2.
Other retail giants embracing AS2 include grocers Food Lion and Winn-Dixie, department stores Kohl's and Target, and manufacturing conglomerates Procter & Gamble and Kraft, among others.
AS2 is less expensive than traditional EDI because it gives trading partners the ability to send and receive electronic data without requiring use of value-added networks, or VANs.
"AS2 allows traditional EDI shops to lower the costs of their B2B infrastructure," said Ron Sellers, vice president of FurnishNet, "and at the same time expand their electronic trading with smaller, non-EDI capable trading partners."
Nigam said that while AS2 does offer significant cost reduction possibilities, it is still only a transport standard. The data sent using AS2 must still be translated either in EDI or FIDX standard formats.
AS2 has nothing to do with the content of the EDI document, only its transport — AS2 essentially creates a wrapper around EDI files that enables their transmission via the Internet, instead of using a dial-up connection to a VAN.
Both Exim and FurnishNet translate and send data in multiple formats, depending on the needs of the trading partners.
"This flexibility is where Exim will continue to add value," Nigam said.
A new business-to-business e-commerce network, which is being unveiled at the October furniture market, is being developed with AS2 in mind, according to Jeff Baker, chief operating officer at retailer Carls and the lead executive behind the B2B effort.
"We're certainly looking at it," said Baker, who is working with retailers Wolf's Furniture and Badcock Home Furnishings in developing the peer-to-peer e-commerce software.
A pan-industry group called the Internet Engineering Task Force developed the AS2 transport standard, an update of the AS1 specification.
