What Is Value-Added Network (VAN)?
We all know that a VAN is a dream come true for busy office workers. No, not the one your mom, used to drop you off at scoff school and back or even the one you went to the flea market to shop at. There is one other VAN you should know about. So did you know that it's also a personal assistant as well? A VAN is a hosted service for sharing received, stored and forwarded messages. A VAN may also add audit data and modify data for automatic error detection, correction or conversion between communication protocols. How does it do this? It ensures that everything about your messaging gets done without you having to lift a finger! If a message comes in, your VAN will store it. If somebody forwards you a message, your VAN will store it. If someone sends you an attachment, your VAN will store it. Yet if anyone asks you where something is, that's when the magic happens! Your VAN will find it for them (automatically), convert it into whatever format they need (automatically), and forward it along to them (automatically). The Internet was the best thing that ever happened to the world. It meant that you could send a message to your friend in Australia, and they'd get it right away, or even faster than if you'd sent it through snail mail. So what about businesses? As the Internet developed, many companies found it more cost-effective to transport data via the Internet, rather than incurring minimum monthly fees or per-character charges typical to VAN contracts. VAN providers countered by offering additional services, including secure email, encryption, management reporting and Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) translation between organizations. And then… after all that hard work… what does your VAN do with itself? Why, it goes back to sleep so that when the following message comes in, it can get back to work!
Related Terms by Networking Solutions
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