LANSA Data Secure Direct

Increased efficiency and lower costs for EDI

LANSA Data Secure Direct solution takes the uncertainty out of complying with retailers requests for Applicability Statement 2 (AS2) compliance. Managing the process is made easy via LANSA's browser-based administration suite that includes trading partner profiles, certificate manager and event viewer capability. The same LANSA technology is also used to provide GDSN compliance, which involves secured transport of XML documents.

What does it do?

LANSA Data Secure Direct provides an easy-to-implement native Windows, iSeries and AS/400 solution that installs on your production Server and integrates directly with your existing Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) translator product. LANSA can also perform the EDI mapping, if requested, as well as the direct integration to your line-of-business applications.

For typical implementations where there is an existing EDI translator in place, LANSA Data Secure Direct sits on top of that infrastructure and feeds that translator the unencrypted document. Consequently, it picks up outbound documents, encrypts those based on your trading partner profile and sends them via AS2.

What is EDI-INT?

EDI over the Internet (EDI-INT) is a working group of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). Formed in February of 1996, EDI-INT was chartered by the IETF to create a set of secure protocols for conducting highly structured inter-organization exchanges. There are two current specifications – AS1 using SMTP and AS2 using HTTP – to transport the data. AS2 is the more prevalent method with real-time, machine-to-machine transactions between two trading partners – typically a retailer and a supplier.

"AS" stands for "Applicability Statement" and uses well-known existing standards in a manner that facilitates product production.

The AS2 specification supports EDI or any other data transmittals (such as XML, or even flat files) over the Internet using HTTP. AS2 is a specification on how to transport data, not how to validate or process data. AS2 specifies the means to connect, deliver, validate and reply to data in a secure and reliable way.

The new EDI

Many of the leading retailers are now mandating the use of EDI-INT for secure business transactions over the Internet. Driven by the prospect of saving thousands of dollars a month, more and more trading partners are sending EDI messages over the Internet, rather than over third-party network services.

Document exchange requires more than just moving data over a wire. Business documents are not only the basis of business planning and operations – they are also the legal obligations between companies – so the documents must be transferred securely, processed quickly and delivered reliably.

The fastest way to send a document is to deliver it directly to the recipient with no intermediate routing or mailboxing – which is exactly what the AS2 standard specifies. AS2-capable software at the sender establishes a connection over the Internet to the receiver's AS2 software and sends the document. The receiver then gives the sending system a receipt.

In effect, the effort is to provide EDI over the Internet to reduce EDI user costs while maintaining current functionality. For large enterprises, AS2 can have a tremendously quick Return on Investment (ROI).

How does it work?

AS2 offers options for security ranging from sending data over a secure HTTPS connection, to content payload encryption – using a digital certificate to completely encrypt the business document. A document also can be digitally signed – assuring the receiver that the document is valid, or additionally compressed – further improving content payload efficiencies.

To implement AS2, your enterprise essentially needs a Web server to listen for and process inbound AS2 transactions, and then – if it's an EDI X.12 or EDIFACT document – pass those transactions on to your EDI translator engine. In addition, digital certificates need to be exchanged between you and your trading partners and entered into your AS2 solution.

An important component of AS2 is the receipt mechanism, which is referred to as a Message Disposition Notification (MDN). This ensures the sender of the document that the recipient has successfully received that document – providing the all-important non-repudiation – meaning the recipient cannot dispute the fact that they received the document. The sender specifies how the MDN is to be sent back – synchronously/asynchronously and signed/unsigned.

From there it's a matter of exchanging documents in a production environment. Documents exchanged most often today via AS2 are EDI 850/810 and 875/880 purchase order/invoice transaction sets.

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