Product Information

Ponton X/P – Secure Data Communication and B2B Integration

Learn about PONTON’s secure data communication workhorse: The PONTON X/P Messenger (or PONTON X/P for short) is PONTON’s high-quality B2B integration solution with a proven track-record in several industries since 2001.

PONTON X/P is a highly configurable ebXML, AS1, AS2, AS3 and AS4 compliant messaging software. It provides additional features to deal with typical B2B integration issues (such as a listener component for the DMZ, certificate management and non-repudiation of messages). PONTON X/P is typically used as communication layer in a business consortium or as an (OEM) communication extension of an existing software application.

PRE-CONFIGURED PONTON X/P VERSIONS FOR YOUR BUSINESS COMMUNITY

PONTON provides custom-built versions of the PONTON X/P Messenger that are pre-configured for quick and easy setup with our supported business consortia. Please contact PONTON Support to obtain the latest version suitable for your organisation. Participants of the EDA network can obtain the current version here.

LEVERAGE PONTON X/P TO SET UP COMMUNICATION AMONG 3 TO 300 PARTICIPANTS

The PONTON X/P focus is on 1:1 communication between business partners. It is used as a bridgehead to connect a participant’s local IT infrastructure to the networks of its partners, typically in decentralized settings or as a standardized communication end point of a central service. PONTON X/P leverages existing communication standards to ensure a secure, guaranteed, and non-reputable (ebMS 2.0, AS4) transfer of messages.

PONTON has been supporting consortia from different industries in standardisation and implementation of data exchange infrastrctures for over two decades. PONTON X/P is used in sectors like energy (Equias, EDA, SMSS), paper / publishing / logistics (papiNet), and health care (German electronic health card). Check the references for details.

PONTON helps consortia to find common ground for their co-operation and to speak the same language within business processes. It is a common business model to procure a consortium-wide license from PONTON and share the cost within the consortium. This approach provides maximum interoperability through standardisation, while maintaining low cost of operation.


  • Quick, simple start: e.g. setup PONTON X/P on existing infrastructure as standalone software, the PONTON CA handles certificate management for you and your partners
  • Efficiently reach enterprise-grade availability using virtualization or the PONTON X/P cluster solution
  • Seamless integration: use standardized adapters to integrate with your existing systems / ETRM
  • Scale your business: Process up to 1 Mio messages per day on commodity hardware
  • Minimize maintenance: Use the PONTON Partner Registry to configure a new partner in one step; all connected PONTON X/P instances update automatically
  • Stay secure: Minimize open firewall ports by using the PONTON SIA; new partners are registered avoiding the need to adapt local firewall settings of the existing partners

FEATURE SET

FLEXIBLE AND EFFICIENT COMMUNICATION CONFIGURATION

Support for a variety of communication protocols, including ebXML 2.0, AS1, AS2, AS3, AS4, HTTP(S), SMTP, S/MIME, FTP(S), all of which can be configured in detail per communication partner. Other configuration options include XML-based payload validation and payload compression. An online registry for partner profile exchange as well as a certification authority, operated by PONTON, are optionally available to facilitate maintenance and extension of your communication community.

HIGH COMPATIBILITY

PONTON X/P complies to a variety of communication standards, such as ebXML 2.0, AS2, AS4, zip compression, SHA-256 signatures, etc. PONTON tests the standard compliance of the message exchange regularly in order to provide maximum compatibility with third party solutions.

MESSAGE MONITORING

Built-in archiving of documents and signatures. These can be accessed using the web administration interface.

HIGH AVAILABILITY

PONTON X/P can be efficiently setup to function in high availability scenarios using commodity infrastructure. Using PONTON X/P instances in cluster mode can further contribute to availability.

EFFICIENT BACKEND INTEGRATION / OEM SETUP

Choose from existing adapters to integrate with your solution (REST-API, HTTP(S), SOAP-Webservice, file system) or write your own adapter using the Ponton Adapter API.
Alternatively, integrate your application database using Ponton X/D with highly configurable mappings.

SECURE MESSAGE DELIVERY

PONTON X/P offers reliable, secure message delivery by implementing end-to-end encryption with various configurable algorithms. Messages are optionally subjected to XML-based payload validation for reliable message content.

FLEXIBLE AND EFFICIENT CERTIFICATE MANAGEMENT

An online registry for partner profile exchange as well as a certification authority, operated by PONTON, are optionally available to facilitate maintenance and extension of your communication community.

NON-REPUDIATION OF MESSAGES

Non-repudiation of message submission / reception: Signed Acknowledgements including the hash of the original message prove successful transfer when using appropriate protocols such as ebMS 2.0 or AS2.

HIGH VOLUME

PONTON X/P supports more than 1.000.000 message transmissions per day as well as large document payloads (> 500 MB).