May 21, 2007

Dear Colleagues,

I think it is safe to say that we all believe that there is a great opportunity out there with EDI as an embedded technology. If not, we would not be in this business.

I have sat in numerous meetings with upper level management of the largest VANs and I keep hearing the same things:

• Interconnects are a necessary evil
• We spend precious resources supporting connections to our competitors
• Kilocharacters provide lower and lower margins

It seems to me this is a classic example of when to outsource. This is a task that everyone in the industry must do and it commands resources that should be allocated to high-margin services.

I am convinced that at the core, the network between VANs, it is time to shift our architecture as an industry. Let's create an infrastructure that practices what we preach. Let's automate the process and move to an integrated routing environment.

Following in the footsteps of telephone communications and banking, we need a central clearing house for interconnect traffic, one with a central routing registry and fully automated access points.

I propose we have an industry summit for Value Added Networks and other Electronic Commerce Service Providers in the Fall of 2007 where we can define the requirements for both the infrastructure and being granted direct access to it.

Shortly, I will post a white paper to this site with my vision of what this infrastructure can do for the industry and how I propose it is implemented. I welcome your feedback.

There is a big world out there, and it's screaming for electronic commerce. Let's give them what they want.

Best regards,

Todd Gould
President & Chief Technical Officer
Loren Data Corp.