Two Oakland County companies are working together to offer Ford Motor Co. suppliers a less-expensive alternative for connectivity to the automaker.
Telegration Inc. of Clawson and Troy-based MBM Computer System Solutions are offering suppliers high-speed secure Internet connectivity at around $12,000 a year, vs. roughly $40,000 a year for a dedicated connection.
Denis Raue, CEO of Telegration, and Jim Jung of MCM said the reliability of the public Intnrnet had improved, and security measures have evolved, to the point where the Internet can be used for sensitive communications between automakers and their suppliers.
And given cost pressures on all sectors of the industry these days, Raue and Jung said the price difference is proving to be compelling.
The product has been in the works about a year. The men said it was the product of Ford having smaller suppliers that either could not afford an electronig connection to Ford or who believed they were overpaying.
Ford eventually came up with a service with bandwidth from Telegration and security from MBM. Telegration represents a wide spectrum of bandwith providers, including AT&T, US Signal and XO.
The service provides the virtually instantaneous, low-latency data connection required for realtime collaboration between design teams on large design data files.
The service also allows for quick scale-up to faster speeds if they're needed.
Ford introduced the package to suppliers last month, and Raue and Jung estimated that about 50 of the automaker's suppliers have signed up.
ANX contends the service isn't really a competing product because it allows for communication only with Ford, not all suppliers.
“For companies in the automotive supply chain who are exchanging data with a single entity, a public internet VPN solution may be an option," said Jim Michels, ANX eBusiness vice president of marketing and sales. "ANX offers this type of product today, based upon a company’s specific business needs and their data transmission requirements. Those companies who are working with multiple trading partners in the automotive market continue to use the ANX Network for their mission-critical data transmission needs given that they can connect to multiple entities using a single, fully managed, highly secure connection.”
ANX this year has acquired two separate VPN operations.
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