>>Hi Andrew,
>>
>>Pardon my ignorance. But what is EDI?
>
>PMFJI... Electronic Data Interface. It's sort of like a data transfer protocol for machines to talk to each other. 10 years ago it was used with big machinery, but it's gotten a whole new life in the last few years. Lots of cash registers use it, in the telecommunications business lots of routers/dishes/repeaters use to communicate to each other. Microsoft has a white paper out on EDI and XML, and Toni Feltman is slated to do a session on it out in LA (one of the many reasons I was bummed you won the free conference pass instead f me! :) )
Actually, Rox, it's Electronic Data Interchange. There are two primary standards in use; X12, which dominates the US/Far Eastern marketplace, and EDIFACT, which is common in the EC. EDI generally describes a set of system-independent data document interchange standards, that cover a wide range of business document types. It also describes the interaction between systems exchanging documents; this covers things like document acknowledgement. There are also standards for protocols for exchanging documents through third-party data networks, referred to as VANs, to provide authentication and integrity validation of data exchanges.
For US/Canadian business-to-business transactions, X12 is pretty widely accepted, and a number of large companies strongly prefer vendors who'll accept and respond to EDI documents. In fact, my initial encounters with EDI came from requirements from companies like IBM and Xerox insisting on using EDI for their research library acquisitions in the late 1980s and early 1990s. At this point, if you want to do business with these companies and you aren't the sole supplier of a key product, you'd best be prepared to deal with EDI exchanges.
It's also a key technology in the international shipment environment; EDI is used extensively to pre-clear customs, reducing the delays in moving shipments across international borders.
A couple of good general references to look at -
Business Data Communications by William Stallings (Macmillan Press), which covers a wide range of topics on doing business electronically, written prior to the wide-scale acceptance of business-to-business E-Commerce on the Internet, and
Electronic Data Interchange by Paul Kimberley (McGraw-Hill). I'd look for them in a library unless you need academic stuff floating about the house.
