>I was asked by a client whether I was familiar with EDI. I said that I understood that acronym and what it implied, but was unsure if it was a specific process or related to languages or systems. Can anyone give me a heads-up on what this is in the business/development world and is it more than just being able to transfer data from one place to another? Thanks!
>
>Regards, Renoir


Electronic Data Interchange. In brief :

Transfer from data via standards (f.e. EDIFACT), usually taylor-made by EDI-providers. The addressing goes via "mailboxes"", with in between a VAN (Value Added Network, often via X400).
F.e. one company sends a purchase order, and the other reads it in as sales order. Many more "messages" exist.

Just starts to get familiar to businesses, but is oldfashioned already because of the possibilities of Internet. Newest fashion may be ebXML, though EDI will stick for a while.


Companies spent tonnes of money on the development of the messages, or better : the interfacing with their relations, the testing, and the blaming of eachother why things don't work.