April 1997 Sprint Beta Tests NetVAN

Electronic Commerce Systems (Atlanta, Ga.; http://www.ecweb.com) has introduced the NetVAN, an Internet-based value-added network that requires only a Web browser by the trading partner and includes all VAN services, such as mailboxing, archiving and audit trails.

A beta version of NetVAN was piloted by Sprint during this year's Super Bowl XXXI in New Orleans. Journalists were able to use the Internet to order telecommunications equipment, with the orders instantly converted into EDI format and securely relayed to the appropriate telecommunications provider via NetVAN.

NetVAN uses PGP (Pretty Good Privacy), an Internet security standard that has been adopted by some of the world's largest organizations. It also uses technology based on FTP (File Transfer Protocol), which is bundled with Microsoft Windows 95.