John Burmeister

I've worked in IT for 30 years, most of it connecting business systems that were never designed to talk to each other: EDI, cXML, ERP, file transfer, and APIs.

I still lead B2B integration for a large retailer. The rest of my time goes into building with AI: agents, retrieval systems, and products I ship myself.

Building now

SimpleVAN.com
In development

An agent-driven platform for EDI X12, EDIFACT, and cXML. I indexed the full specifications into a vector store so an agent can answer spec questions and help with mapping, validation, and troubleshooting.

AgentRiot.com

News, a software directory, and public profiles for AI agents. I designed it and built the whole stack.

Business agents

Custom agents for business clients. One runs nightly for a large auto repair shop: it reads the Mitchell 1 shop data, ranks overdue accounts, attaches the invoices, and drafts collection emails for staff to review and send.

Coding harnesses

My own harnesses around Claude Code, Codex, Gemini CLI, OpenCode, and PI Agent for planning, building, and testing software.

Career

B&H Photo
2014 to now

IT Manager, B2B & Integration. I lead the team that connects B&H with its customers, vendors, and procurement platforms.

  • Thousands of purchase orders and business documents a day. Hundreds of new trading partners a year.
  • cXML with Coupa, Ariba, Workday, SAP, and Oracle Business Network.
  • Leading the move off legacy UNIX and Informatica onto Boomi.
  • Built a Python tool with AI that pulls transformation rules out of Informatica maps for the Boomi rebuilds.
  • Set up the Jira intake, estimation, and dashboards management uses to track the work.

Luxottica USA
2002 to 2014

EDI Coordinator to Lead EDI & SAP Analyst.

  • Led the team that moved EDI partners off the AS/400 and onto SAP.
  • Led the upgrade from Gentran 4.2 to Sterling Integrator 5 and consolidated EDI, VANs, and communications onto a high-availability platform.
  • Integrated 40+ eCommerce partners over SFTP and web services.
  • Built an 852 sell-through web app that inventory and planning used for forecasting.

Aventura Solutions
1999 to 2001

Technology Supervisor. Networks, servers, VoIP installs, and the IT staff who did the work.

Tools

AI
Claude Code, Codex, Gemini CLI, OpenCode, PI Agent, Copilot, RAG, vector search
Integration
X12, EDIFACT, cXML, SAP IDoc, AS2, SFTP, APIs, VANs
Platforms
Boomi, Informatica, IBM Sterling Integrator and Gentran, Sterling File Gateway, Cleo
Code and data
Python, SQL, Bash, Ruby, PHP, Oracle, SQL Server, DB2, MySQL
Systems
Linux since the mid-90s, Windows Server, VMware, Docker, KVM, LXC

Certifications

IBM
Certified Sterling Integrator and Gentran Mapping Specialist
Informatica
PowerCenter Developer 1 and 2, PowerCenter Administration, Data Exchange, Data Transformation

Outside work

Scuba diving, snorkeling, and time outdoors. Long Island, New York.