RE: Looking for alternatives to Inovis TrustedLink iSerie s software

Ron,

I feel your pain.  It seems that some software companies think they have you
over a barrel and can have their way with you.

But I want to challenge your assumption that your EDI system must be housed
on the same device as your business application.  EDI is a black box.  What
is the real reason it needs to reside on your HA system?  Tradition?
Comfort?

When my company took EDI off our application server (AS/400) and placed it
on a Windows server, it freed us from the mega-bucks EDI software we had
been wedded to.  When we converted from our AS/400-based application system
to Oracle on HPUX, we were not required to convert EDI as a result.  Today,
we have the next generation of Windows-based EDI software - total capital
investment including the server is under $25,000
.
With that kind of price tag for a basic system, you could build a HA-type
configuration that would blow away most mid-range systems performance and
reliability for a fraction of what your budget may call for -- and keep your
application server for the application.  Hey, it's even better ... if the
application server goes down, your EDI system is likely to still be up - and
vice versa.

PaperPak is very pleased with our Software Vendor, Softshare.  They work
with us on licensing issues - and they don't jerk us around the way you have
described your current supplier is doing. They provide excellent products as
well as maybe the best customer service in the industry.  We use their ECS
standard edition to manage scheduling and communication, including ASx, and
Delta Enterprise edition for mapping and translation.  We also use their
VAN.

Good luck to you,

Art Douglas
Manager, eCommerce Systems
PaperPak
San Dimas, CA
909-971-5025

-----Original Message-----
From:  [mailto: On Behalf Of

Sent: Friday, February 17, 2006 2:15 PM
To: 
Subject: [EDI-L] Looking for alternatives to Inovis TrustedLink iSeries
software

The subject says it all.

We are looking to replace our TrustedLink software.  We are in the process
of setting up high availability on our systems and we are finding out that
Inovis is going to charge us a 25% license fee to allow us to have their
software on a HA machine.

On top of that, they are now telling us that even if we have a true
disaster where we have to switch to an alternate machine they are going to
charge us that license fee for making the change.  I have never heard of
any other company requiring a license fee when you have a disaster.

This is the straw that broke the camel's back.  We are in the market to
migrate away from Inovis.  Any replacement still must run on the iSeries
(or I5).

Thank you,
Ronald L. Zimmerman
I.T. Applications Manager
Swiss Valley Farms, Co.      http://www.swissvalley.com
"The Good for You Company"
Email: