Avra: Enhancing B2Bi Connectivity

Understanding the World of B2Bi with Coliance’s Expertise

In the ever-evolving landscape of Business-to-Business Connectivity (B2Bi), Coliance has established itself as a leader with over two decades of expertise. Our comprehensive services span across in-depth support, delivery, and guidance in the B2Bi domain. With our proficiency in a wide array of IBM products like B2Bi, Connect Direct (C:D), Secure Proxy (SSP), Gentran, Application Connect Enterprise (ACE), and MQ.

As businesses today grapple with the increasing complexity of environments synchronisation across varied systems and locations has become an increasingly popular method to provide highly available systems in multiple regions. Ensuring data consistency in multi-system environments or undergoing frequent updates and migrations presents significant challenges. 

Recognising these challenges, Coliance introduces Avra, a transformative solution trailored to meet the modern demands of B2Bi connectivity.

The Complex World of B2Bi Connectivity

IBM’s B2Bi solution has been a mainstay in this sector for over two decades, thanks to its robustness, reliability, security, and capacity to handle millions of transactions amounting to billions of commercial value in various currencies. It’s encountered in various forms: standalone, integrated into Sterling File Gateway (SFG) for file delivery, as part of the Gentran Integration Suite (GIS) or Sterling Integrator (SI) for integration services, and sometimes in conjunction with third-party tools like the Elliesen (formally known as the Lightwell) Framework enhancing the B2Bi toolkit. Ensuring the secure, safe, and reliable delivery of files consistently is paramount. B2Bi excels in supporting technologies, both old and new, alongside the systems it serves.

Why IBM B2Bi Stands Out

IBM’s B2Bi solution has been a mainstay in this sector for over two decades, thanks to its robustness, reliability, security, and capacity to handle millions of transactions amounting to billions of commercial value in various currencies. It’s encountered in various forms: standalone, integrated into Sterling File Gateway (SFG) for file delivery, as part of the Gentran Integration Suite (GIS) or Sterling Integrator (SI) for integration services, and sometimes in conjunction with third-party tools like the Elliesen Framework enhancing the B2Bi toolkit. Ensuring the secure, safe, and reliable delivery of files consistently is paramount. B2Bi excels in supporting technologies, both old and new, alongside the systems it serves.

Introducing Avra – A New Era in B2Bi Synchronisation

In the industry’s ongoing effort to distribute systems and eliminate single points of failure, there is a critical balance to maintain between achieving this goal and the potential for increased complexity, cost, and risks. Avra effectively addresses this challenge by providing a cost-effective solution tailored for on-demand file synchronisation scenarios, making it an ideal choice for Sterling File Gateway (SFG) implementations.

Avra’s Role and Capabilities

Avra employs existing tools that are tried and trusted in B2Bi and standard B2Bi/ SFG environments, guaranteeing the efficient, secure, and prompt synchronisation of data across separate B2Bi/SFG setups. It preserves conventional storage functions (Database or File System) and standard Mailbox architecture and services. 

Each separate system effectively sees all the mailboxes and payloads as their own but Avra keeps track of them and any change will signal a series of events that keep all of the monitored mailboxes in sync. Additionally, Avra uses an independent manifest to monitor both synchronised and unsynchronised elements across various systems. This approach enables each system to recognise the payloads independently, with Avra overseeing the synchronisation processes.

Case Studies – Practical Applications of Avra

Avra’s versatility is evident in various applications, this is what customers are doing today.

1)    Independant B2Bi/SFG systems synchronised data.

Multi Region Environment … for practical reasons an Avra customer creates two (or more) completely independent B2Bi/SFG systems which are running in separate regions or countries. Partners can access the data from their local system to collect and deliver data. By synchronising the files or messages that are available to these partners or routing the inbound files to the correct region it can be guaranteed that the partners and backend systems get their files regardless of the system that play a role in the events. In addition, if this is an issue, they do not collect the files multiple times and have access to file archives regardless of system availability or region.

2)    Creating an active mirror.

Some Avra customers have two production systems but only use one for processing at any given time. The inactive system is changed at leisure and switching can be short notice and immediate. By maintaining the active data in real time this switch can be done with confidence and since Avra is two way by design at the switch, the mirror is maintained in reverse ready for the next switch.

Avra also has the facility to pause the synchronisation and maintain delta changes ready for the resume and also when a new mailbox is added or removed this changes is also immediately added to the watch list and completely synchronised. 

3)    Avra used as a temporary solution for a migration or upgrade.

Due to the cost effectiveness and ease of installation of Avra it is used for stages migrations between two systems. Whether this be a cloud migration, alternate system or simply different versions, Avra will maintain a mirror system for quick switching, synchronising all mailbox data at rest. 

Acting as a temporary solution for staged migrations during upgrades, ensuring consistent results across systems facilitating migrations where partners can update their connection details at their own pace with peace of mind that all the data is in place.

Coliance’s Expertise with Avra Leveraging our extensive expertise in this domain, Coliance has successfully implemented Avra for a diverse range of clients showcasing its adaptability and effectiveness. If you’re considering whether Avra could be a strategic addition to enhance your operational processes, or have specific needs that require expert advice, we invite you to engage with our specialists for tailored guidance.

Designed with precision, Avra offers a robust solution for efficient, secure, and reliable on-demand file synchronisation, ideally suited for Sterling File Gateway (SFG) setups.

Avra’s unique ability to simplify complex processes, mitigate risks, and ensure cost-efficiency marks it as a significant breakthrough in B2Bi connectivity, redefining industry standards.

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