A value-added network (VAN) is a hosted service offering that acts as an intermediary between business partners sharing standards based or proprietary data via shared business processes. VANs traditionally transmitted data formatted as Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) but increasingly they also transmit data formatted as XML and Binary. VANs usually service a given vertical or industry and provide value-added services such as data transformation between formats (EDI↔XML, EDI↔EDI, etc.). At one extreme a VAN hosts only horizontal business-to-business (B2B) application integration services, hosting general-purpose integration services for any process or industry.
At the other extreme a VAN also hosts process-specific or industry-specific pre-defined integration capabilities (e.g., data synchronization services as part of the Global Data Synchronization Network (GDSN)) and applications (e.g., supply chain order visibility). Traditionally, most VANs primarily only supported general-purpose B2B integration capabilities focused on EDI but these service providers are quickly evolving to become more process- and industry-specific over time, particularly in industries such as retail and hi-tech manufacturing.
VANs today require a global footprint with capabilities, tools and people to service supply chains that extend from Shanghai to New York, Thailand to Hungary. Modern Value-Added Networks today are also referred to as trading grids.A VAN not only receives, stores, forwards messages but also adds audit information to the messages, it modifies the data (automatic error detection and correction, protocol conversion) and then transport the information.
Examples of VAN companies include Atlas BDX, GXS, IBM, Inovis, IBMIE, Kleinschmidt Inc, Sterling Commerce, Softshare, Data Interchange and BT*EDINET.