The modern world of data exchange has two conflicting goals. Due to the speed that systems are being upgraded and changed, standards for both the data formats being exchanged and the communications methods by which they are being exchanged are no longer fixed and locked down – they are continually evolving and changing.
At the same time, due to the dependence of business on such exchanges, the consequences of such systems failing are greater than ever. And these requirements are also accompanied by increasingly large data files needing to be sent, and a requirement for complete security during the transfer process. Put away the CDRs and envelopes – PathFinder is designed to meet these requirements.
Flexible
PathFinder’s open-Syntax design allows it to handle documents at a Syntax rather than a message level. To take one example, what that means in practice is that it can handle any XML document – not just offer support for a particular set of documents known to the developers. Whereas many of our competitors need to rush out new versions to meet ever-increasing numbers of ‘standard’ documents, a PathFinder user can just import the Schema or DTD of the given standard and start the transformation map or configuration of routing.
In a similar way, PathFinder can handle any Flat file (fixed length field) document, and any delimited document such as traditional EDI files or CSV files. And it can transform any of these to any other – it can take a Flat file export from an application and transform it to a RosettaNet XML message to transmit to a partner, or receive a CSV file originally produced by a spreadsheet and emailed in and convert it to an XML import file for a specific application.
If document transformation is not required, PathFinder can handle any file – even binary documents such as PDFs, compressed documents or databases. It still provides the communications and security options to send the data reliably and security.
Communicate
As well as being open in what documents it can handle, PathFinder also allows these documents to be sent or received using a wide range of communications methods. Indeed, some of our customers use PathFinder purely as a tool for data exchange, or Managed File Transfer (to use the latest terminology). PathFinder takes care of the task of reliably ensuring that the complete document makes it to its destination in a reliable and secure fashion, and notifies the user if delivery has not been possible for a specific reason. Protocols such as AS/2, FTPS and RosettaNet are a standard integrated part of PathFinder and can be used in an unrestricted fashion – we do not place restrictions or cost implications on the number of partners that the product can be used for.
PathFinder is a complete data exchange tool, and used by our customers as such. Please look in the sidebar for further details on using PathFinder as a traditional EDI Interface or as a middleware server for application interfacing.