Unless your buildings are in the same block and you've bred some really reliable carrier pigeons, the fastest and most economical way to share data with customers and other business partners is via the Internet. It's almost impossible to beat FTP, combined with some form of data encryption, as a straightforward way to exchange files and messages.

Ideally, you'll also have some software to automate the translation of data between different databases and data formats, to simplify the administrative tracking needed if you have multiple partners with which to communicate, and to provide other services. nuBridges LLC's truExchange Secure FTP is the kind of solution that fits this niche.

A Rose by Any Other Format

Electronic Data Interchange over the Internet (EDI-INT) currently follows three standards, called Applicability Statements (AS) 1, 2, and 3. AS1 uses the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) to transmit Secure/Multipurpose Internet Mail Extension (S/MIME) encrypted transactions and digital signatures, and AS2 uses HTTP and HTTP/S to deliver S/MIME transactions. AS3, the newest standard, is a draft specification for delivery of EDIFACT or X12 EDI, binary, and XML data via FTP.

truExchange Secure FTP not only supports FTP, sFTP, and FTPs but also the AS3 standard. On the iSeries, the truExchange FTP server can either run next to or replace the iSeries native server. However, truExchange Secure FTP also includes a command-driven interface, enables client scripting, supports multiple encryption methods, and provides host-based control features (Figure 1). These features let you control FTP activity and secure your environment well enough to comply with major legislative mandates, including the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA), the Healthcare Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX), and Part 11 of Title 21 Code of Federal Regulations (21 CFR 11). truExchange Secure FTP also supports secure transmission standards pertinent to state laws, such as California Senate Bill 1386, which requires notification to California residents when their personal information may have been revealed by a computer security breach.

Support for important business data security standards is also built into truExchange. A special bundling of truExchange products, truExchange PCI Secure complies with the Payment Card Industry (PCI) Data Security Standard, which defines merchant requirements for securing payment cardholder information, a business requirement of most major credit card companies.

EDI-INT includes additional guidelines for message and data encryption, decryption, and transaction confirmations. These include other encryption standards — Pretty Good Privacy (PGP), Secure Shell (SSH), and Secure Sockets Layer/Transport Security Layer (SSL/TLS). PGP is a file encryption/decryption standard, SSH encrypts terminal connections and file transfers, and SSL/TLS secures message transmissions moving between applications via HTTP and FTP. truExchange Secure FTP lets users employ any of these data-security solutions. Its support for SSH 2.0 lets users also choose from the encryption methods that standard supports (e.g., AES, Blowfish, Diffie-Hellman, Triple DES).

A Bouquet of Features

The solution consists of three parts, truExchange FTP Client, truExchange FTP Server, and truExchange Secure Transaction Manager. The FTP Client runs on the iSeries and offers encryption options, automation tools, trigger utilities, and e-mail notifications for errors or confirmations. The FTP Server runs on the iSeries and provides such services as logging and tracking of FTP sessions, file naming and routing controls, and direct integration with third-party EDI translators (e.g., Gentran, TrustedLink). The Secure Transaction Manager provides behind-the-firewall hosting of FTP, AS2, and AS3 exchanges, including validation of inbound protocols and address information, IP address blocking and filtering, and controls on maximum file sizes.

Administrative and automation features offer some additional services. For example, the FTP Client part includes realtime monitoring and in-session recovery for FTP commands, Point-to-Point Protocol automated dialup, session-level and global history logging, and on-the-fly formatting functions between DB2 databases and XML, CSV, stream, and IFS files. It also monitors iSeries output queues, libraries, and the IFS for triggers and processes them.

The FTP server confirms completion of every FTP request, queues and tracks file deliveries, lets administrators control and alter FTP requests, forces client-side SSL authentication, restricts access by IP address, and offers application triggers on GET/PUT requests.

In addition, truExchange Secure FTP provides other administrative features that directly support encryption and decryption processing. These include creating your own public/private encryption key pairs, importing and managing the public keys of trading partners, encrypting and decrypting data, controlling digital signatures and their expiration dates, creating and managing security profiles for yourself and trading partners, and designating as "trusted" validated partner keys.

If you need a secure solution for exchanging business data with partners and that provides plenty of automation, security, and administrative features, truExchange Secure FTP is worth consideration.

Solution Spotlight is a feature of iSeries NEWS that provides more in-depth coverage of significant iSeries products. Offerings are selected for Solution Spotlight by iSeries News editorial staff, based on staff perception of the product as either new or innovative, or because the product is the subject of extensive discussions in Internet forums on iSeriesNetwork.com and elsewhere.

John Ghrist is senior products editor for iSeries NEWS.