Product - Protocol
VAN
What is a VAN?
VAN stands for Value Added Network, a network of companies who serve the purpose of EDI communication. A VAN is used by companies to send and receive their EDI documents with their partners. VANs offer other services as well, but these differ largely from one VAN to another.
All VANs work out of a network address database that they share with other VANs to create an interconnected network. Each VAN lists their customers and provides them with a unique ID to identify them on the network. When another one is sending a document, they will use this unique ID to find the receive VAN location. Once identified, they will send the message to the receiving partner’s VAN, thus delivering the message to the correct recipient.
Unique IDs are made up of two parts, a qualifier and an ID. The qualifier tells you what kind of ID to expect, and the ID is the value itself. For example, a qualifier of 01 indicates that the ID will be the company’s DUNS number.
Babelway and VANs
Babelway is not a VAN, but realizes that in the world of B2B integration, it’s likely that you will encounter a customer who will only transmit documents via their VAN. Because of this, we’ve added support for communication as a standard gateway.
Babelway gives you the ability to send documents to the VAN network and route to your receiving partner’s VAN based on the EDI ID you use in the document. For inbound documents, we give you the ability to deploy a gateway that will receive all EDI documents for a EDI ID that you input into the gateway.
Getting started with Babelway
1. Just fill in the VAN ID and Qualifier
2. Deploy
3. Ensure receiver IDs are within the file
Babelway takes care of a lot of the work for you, all that you need is an ID and Qualifier to use for your EDI VAN transactions. When sending to a receiving party via VAN, there is no gateway setup, you just ensure that your receiver’s IDs are within the file.
Why Babelway?
Set up with ease
Deploy your connection in seconds, making it ready for testing immediately.
Transform any format
Use simple drag & drop tools to map your message to any other format for easy import/export in or from your database.
Connect to anyone
Connect your Babelway environment using any EDI or non-EDI communication protocols.
Support
Babelway is not only a great self-service platform but also a team of pros ready to help you succeed.
- Access our support helpdesk anytime and ask your questions. You will be answered as soon as max 60 minutes
- Spot the ‘reuse and save time’ zone on the right of the screen? Import messages and maps from our catalog
- Access online training material through Babelway Academy
What have our clients said about VAN in Babelway?
“Babelway helps us innovate in B2B collaboration.”
Read case study >
“Their product and their experts ensure that we’ll have an innovative B2B integration solution, not just right now, but in the years to come.”
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