QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

Q. Do I need any special software to use 10-10-EDI? If so, how much does it cost? What are the annual maintenance fees?

A. Your connection to the 10-10-EDI network is provided by a 100%-Java client, which we supply for free. There are no annual software maintenance fees at all. Compare this to the expense of traditional EDIINT software; see Effective Data's White Paper, EDIINT - EDI Over the Internet (PDF: 226k).

Q. Is the software a limited version that can only talk to one major retailer? Do you charge more for the software if I want to use it to communicate with more than one trading partner?

A. You get the complete client. You can exchange EDI and XML transactions with anyone on the 10-10-EDI network. It doesn't matter if you talk to one trading partner - or 4000. The software is free.

Q. If the software is free, how do you make money?

A. We're not a software company. We give away the software client so you can use the 10-10-EDI network. We simply charge by the number of interchanges or files you exchange with your trading partners.

Q. So, you must have per-kilobyte charges like a VAN?

A. We're not a VAN, either. We don't touch your data enroute - it goes straight to your trading partner, with no chances for delay. We have no per-kilobyte charges. Since we don't store-and-forward like a legacy VAN, we really don't care how big each interchange is. You simply pay a modest fee for each interchange - whether it's a kilobyte or multiple gigabytes.

And if your EDI interchange only contains interchange and functional group acknowledgments, like the X12 997 or TA1 or the UN/EDIFACT CONTRL, it travels free! We want to encourage safe EDI practices. Likewise, if your interchange is marked for "Test" - for example, if the ISA15 Usage Indicator is "T", the UNB Test indicator is present or the RosettaNet RNIF Service Header test indicator is set - it's on us! You can test as often as you wish, with as many trading partners as you can round up, without ever paying a nickel.

Q. How does the 10-10-EDI client compare to the popular EDIINT software packages?

A. Strictly speaking, the 10-10-EDI client serves a different purpose than an EDIINT package. Our client is lightweight because it can rely on the Novannet servers to tell it where your trading partners reside and what their capabilities are. Bulky EDIINT packages typically have a rich and powerful Graphical User Interface (GUI) to ease your trading partner maintenance chores. We have no such user interface for the simple reason you don't have to perform interminable trading partner maintenance with 10-10-EDI! In addition, we make no pretense of selling you an “all-in-one” package, as we have no need to support various legacy protocols such as FTP and EDIINT AS1 and AS2.

Q. What are my minimum system requirements for running the 10-10-EDI client software?

A. 10-10-EDI will run under any operating system capable of supporting the Java 1.4 VM, including Linux, Windows 98,Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000 and XP, SUN Solaris, Mac OS X.

Status display and setup tasks are done on the Web with forms and pages served up by Novannet, requiring a standard browser capable of supporting the W3C XSLT 1.0 standard (including Netscape 7.x and Windows Internet Explorer 6). The network control functions may be accessed via Web browsers residing on any number of machines in your enterprise, not necessarily the one(s) running the 10-10-EDI client.

Q. This all sounds great. But unfortunately I use an older EDI package that dials out directly to my VAN. There's no way I can intercept the EDI output so I can pass it onto the 10-10-EDI client.

A. Fortunately, our 10-10-EDI client can solve this and other integration problems arising with legacy packages. Typical application integration is accomplished under 10-10-EDI using loosely-coupled techniques such as directory listening and simple scripts; tightly-coupled integration can take advantage of 10-10-EDI API calls or EAI message queuing solutions such as WebSphere MQ.

Q. How do you bill?

A. We bill monthly based upon the number of interchanges (or files) delivered to your trading partner, plus a nominal monthly subscription charge and any VAN interconnect fees you might incur. Only the sender is billed, unless trading partners make arrangements for cost-splitting. We are fully equipped to bill your credit card. And for larger accounts, we also support EFT and the ANSI ASC X12 810 or 811 Invoices.