Avalue-added network (VAN) is a hosted service offering that acts as an intermediary between business partners sharing standards based on proprietary data via sharedbusiness processes. The offered service is referred to as "value-added network services".
Following in the wake oftimesharing providers, provision of leased lines between terminals and data centers proved a sustainable business which led to the establishment of dedicated business units and companies specialized in the management and marketing of such network services. SeeTymshare for an example of a timeshare services company that spun offTymnet as a data communications specialist with a complex product portfolio.
The large-scale allocation of network services by private companies was in conflict with state-controlled telecommunications sector. To be able to gain a license for telecommunication service provision to customers, a private business had to "add value" to the communications line in order to be a distinguishable service. Therefore, the notion of "value-added network services" was established to allow for operation of such private businesses as an exemption from state control.
The telecommunication operator sector was marketed in the USA in 1982 (seeModification of Final Judgment) and in the United Kingdom starting with the early 1980s (mainly due to the privatization ofBritish Telecom under Prime MinisterMargaret Thatcher). In the later 1980s, running a value-added network service required licensing in the U.K. while the term "value-added network" had merely become a functional description of a specific subset of networked data communication in the USA.[1]
On a multinational scale, and due to the heterogeneous telecommunication economy and infrastructure before the market penetration of theInternet, management of a value-added network service proved a complicated task leading to the idea of user-defined networks,[2] a concept preceding the nowadays ubiquitous availability of internet service. Standardization efforts for data networking were made byITU-T (formerly CCIT) and includedX.25packet-switched networks andX.400message handling systems, specifically motivated by an emerging transatlantic competition[3] in the early 1990s.
In the absence of state-operated telecommunication sector, value-added network services are still used, mainly as a functional description, in conjunction with dedicated leased lines for business-to-business communications (especially forEDIFACT data transfer).
Governments like South Africa still maintain explicit regulation,[4] while others address specific services with licensing.[5]
Traditionally, most value-added network services mainly supported general-purpose business-to-business integration capabilities focused onelectronic data interchanges, but service providers are evolving to become more process- and industry-specific over time, particularly in industries such as retail and hi-tech manufacturing.[citation needed] Some sources suggest that modern value-added network services should be called "trading grids" due to commonalities withgrid computing.[6]Others distinguishinternet service providers from international value-added network services (IVANS) operators.[7]
