Reliable EDI message delivery. Every time.
Foundational’s Value Added Network (VAN) provides the secure messaging infrastructure that connects your business to trading partners who require VAN-based EDI, with the reliability and compliance your supply chain depends on.
What is a VAN?
A Value Added Network is a private, secure communications network that routes EDI documents between trading partners. Think of it as a trusted postal service for business transactions, ensuring every document is delivered, tracked, and available for both parties.
Read the full guide: What Is a Value Added Network? →
Encrypted, private document exchange
Messages held until your partner retrieves them
Complete transmission history for every document
More than just message routing
Foundational’s VAN is integrated with our full managed service, so your VAN connectivity is part of a complete, managed EDI solution, not a standalone piece you have to manage separately.
Translation & Mapping
We translate between EDI standards (X12, EDIFACT) and your internal formats, so your ERP receives data in the format it expects, regardless of what your partner sends.
Protocol Bridging
Connect VAN-based partners with AS2, SFTP, and API-based partners under one managed service. We handle the routing and translation between protocols transparently.
Real-Time Visibility
Track every transaction, sent, received, acknowledged, and errored. Our monitoring team watches your traffic 24/7 and resolves exceptions before they become problems.
Compliance & Acknowledgments
Automatic 997 functional acknowledgments, transaction validation, and compliance checking against your trading partners’ exact specifications.
Interconnect Agreements
Already using a different VAN? We maintain interconnect agreements with all major VAN providers, so your partners on other networks can still connect without any change on their end.
Document Archiving
All transactions are archived with full audit trails, critical for dispute resolution, compliance audits, and chargeback defense.
When VAN is the right choice
Choose VAN when…
- Your trading partner requires VAN connectivity as a condition of doing business
- You need a neutral third party to prove message delivery in disputes
- Your partner has a complex, high-volume document exchange that needs reliable queuing
- You’re connecting to legacy systems that don’t support AS2 or SFTP
Consider direct (AS2/SFTP) when…
- Your partner supports modern direct-connect protocols
- You want the lowest per-transaction cost at high volumes
- Latency is a concern and real-time transmission matters
- You’re building a modern, API-first integration architecture
Many of Foundational’s customers use both, VAN for partners that require it, direct connection for everyone else. We manage both under one roof with unified monitoring and support.
Your VAN costs can only improve
We can beat your current rate
We move your VAN traffic onto our network at the better price. Your trading partners see no disruption, the connection keeps working exactly as before.
We can’t beat your current rate
That’s rare, but it happens, some providers offer exceptional legacy pricing. When it does, we simply keep your existing VAN connection in place and layer our managed service on top of it.
Either way, your VAN costs never go up when you switch to Foundational. We quote your traffic upfront and compare it directly against what you’re paying today, it’s a zero-risk move with only upside.
What buyers actually ask about VANs
How much does a VAN actually cost?
VAN traffic is billed by data volume, typically per kilocharacter (1,000 characters transmitted), not per document. A short purchase order costs a fraction of a cent to move; a large invoice with hundreds of line items costs more, because it’s more data. Most mid-market companies see VAN traffic run a modest add-on to their overall EDI service cost, not a dominant line item. See our full EDI cost breakdown for how this fits into total pricing.
Do I still need a VAN if my partners support AS2?
Not necessarily for those specific partners; direct AS2 connections skip the VAN entirely. But most companies have a mix: a few large partners requiring or preferring direct AS2, and many smaller or legacy partners still on VAN. A managed service that runs both under one roof means you’re not choosing one protocol company-wide.
How long does VAN setup take?
Connecting to an established VAN with existing interconnect agreements is typically fast, often days, not weeks, since the network infrastructure already exists. The longer part of onboarding is usually trading partner mapping and testing, not the VAN connection itself.
What happens if I switch VAN providers?
Because VANs maintain interconnect agreements with each other, your trading partners typically don’t need to change anything on their end when you switch providers, the routing updates behind the scenes. See our note on switching VAN costs above for how that transition works in practice.
Connect any partner, any way they need it
Whether your partners require VAN, AS2, SFTP, or API, Foundational handles the connections so you don’t have to manage multiple providers or protocols.
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