LONDON, UK — September 15, 2008 — GXS, a leading provider of business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce solutions, today announced the commercial availability of GXS Managed File Transfer (MFT). GXS MFT is a GXS Managed Service designed uniquely for companies seeking secure and reliable file exchange, especially for large or bulk files. Based on Internet technology and open standards, GXS MFT offers its customers easy integration with trading partners, ultimate scalability for volumes and file size growth and visibility for auditing and tracking purposes, without the expense of supporting proprietary protocols in-house. It enables businesses to free up IT resources to focus on mission-critical projects that support business objectives and reduces operational, support and maintenance costs associated with managing disparate file transfer technologies. With GXS MFT, businesses can consolidate all their file transfer solutions, eliminating the need for proprietary software and gaining faster and easier trading partner on-boarding. 

GXS MFT includes secure B2B file transfer, protocol mediation, trading community implementation, file monitoring and reports and customer/trading partner support to alleviate typical pain points associated with on-premise solutions. GXS MFT features several standard, widely-accepted file transfer options including a simple-to-use, web-based file transfer environment that supports real-time monitoring and traceability. Coupled with GXS’ existing global infrastructure and support, GXS MFT has global reach and can be used by companies in a variety of industries including finance and insurance, retail and consumer products, manufacturing, media and entertainment, healthcare and life sciences, telecom services, mapping and geological services and construction and architecture. GXS MFT supports a variety of proprietary protocols on behalf of its customers, giving it wide flexibility and adaptability. Atlas Products International, a market-leading data exchange specialist, is the first company to offer GXS MFT to its customer base.

“Successful B2B integration is about choice, flexibility and security. While basic EDI software or services meet the needs of many businesses, other businesses—such as banks and product design firms—need a solution to support their unique, file transfer needs at a price point that makes sense,” said Allan Gray, managing director of Atlas Products International. “GXS MFT coupled with Atlas Secure Data Exchange (SDX) gives these businesses an affordable, large file transfer solution with digital signatures and non-repudiation that requires little management on their part, ensuring that they incur no additional costs for in-house hardware or personnel. We are pleased to be adding GXS MFT to the robust portfolio of B2B services offered by Atlas, as it will meet the needs of our customers seeking a services-based, affordable, easy-to-manage, secure MFT solution.”

The market for MFT solutions is strong and growing at a healthy rate. In a recent report1, “Gartner estimates that the market for MFT suites and services is approximately $450 million and is growing at a rate of 21% to 26% year over year. Fortunately for many of these vendors, while the overall market for MFT solutions grows at a healthy rate, the overall pool of enterprises needing MFT solutions grows even faster.”

The management of file transfers using in-house systems presents a variety of business challenges, especially as file sizes continue to grow. On premise, software-based solutions often fall in one of two extremes—expensive and difficult to maintain or inexpensive, but lacking security and business-critical functionality. Additionally, requirements to support a broad set of B2B communication protocols, while managing a global trading partner community can be both time consuming and difficult. Because GXS handles the service end-to-end, the burden of these requirements is off-loaded from the customer, giving them exceptional capabilities and security with very little time and management required.

“The demand for a viable, flexible MFT service spans many industries and file types, including banks transferring large volumes of digital check images and manufacturers exchanging Computer-aided Design (CAD) files for collaborative engineering,” said Bobby Patrick, senior vice president of marketing at GXS. “In-house software implementations for managed file transfer are costly and proprietary. Due to the significant advancements in secure, Internet-based communication protocols, such as SFTP and HTTPS, the days of being locked into proprietary technologies are gone. By leveraging GXS’ 40 years of experience in B2B, GXS MFT liberates companies from paying software maintenance fees, maintaining their own MFT platform and keeping up trading partner integration requirements.” 

GXS MFT is backed by global resources available around the clock to support customers from initial deployment through day-to-day management, centralised at the GXS Global Production Centre which provides customers with proactive and reactive customer support. In addition, the GXS B2B Activity Management (BAM) team proactively monitors and tracks all transaction events within the GXS environment and manages exception handling, escalation and resolution on all transaction errors. The GXS Help Desk is available 24x7x365 around the world in a three-tier support model with notification and escalation processes to efficiently and accurately address problems. Ongoing program activities and changes are coordinated through a designated program manager.

About GXS

GXS is a leading global provider of B2B e-commerce solutions that simplify and enhance business process integration and collaboration among trading partners.  Organisations worldwide, including 75 percent of the Fortune 500, leverage the on-demand services on GXS Trading Grid® to extend supply chain networks, optimise product launches, automate warehouse receiving, manage electronic payments and gain supply chain visibility.  GXS Managed Services, GXS’ B2B outsourcing solution, empowers customers with the expertise, technical infrastructure and program support to conduct B2B e-commerce with trading partners globally. 
Based in Gaithersburg, Md., GXS has an extensive global network and has local offices in the Americas, Europe and Asia-Pacific regions.  GXS can be found on the Web at www.gxs.uk.

1 Gartner, “Magic Quadrant for Managed File Transfer,” by L. Frank Kenney, June 23, 2008.

#####

For further information please contact:

Denise Oakley, Director, Marketing Programmes International GXS
Tel - +44 (0) 1932 776408 / +44 (0) 7768 537 481 Email: denise.oakley@gxs.com