Two Years at GN
If I haven’t mentioned this before, well, here it is.
I started working at GN in May 2001, after a two-year stint with another startup, TFC (more about that another time).
What were the highlights? We built software that enables the proliferation of B2B standards the main focus of my efforts. This included messaging standards such as RosettaNet, ebXML, various EDI dialects (AS1, AS2). There were lots of requirements and many disparate heterogenous systems to integrate with. This made for challenging schedules and impossible features.
During the first year, we had implemented a bare-bones RosettaNet system, which had to be polished and refined many times. By the end of my second year, we had a pretty stable system which supported the RosettaNet standard as well as any software in the market today.
In retrospect, I supposed it was empowering to be part of a movement that was going to change the way people did businesses. We were making fax machines obsolete, a thing of the past. That was the ultimate intention, but the journey was fraught with challenges.
Inevitably, technology remained complex. XML, encryption, Internet - it was still relatively new. We had just completed our first RosettaNet interoperability tests with 9 other companies. It was a painful job, to wake up early in the mornings to attend conference calls, to run tests, to debug log files.
Next month, we will move from our current office in Martin Road to Bencoolen Road.