RE: EDI over http?

[Carl Hage <chage@xxxxxxxxx>]

On Thu, 19 Jun 1997, Rik Drummond wrote:

> This conversation seems to be a good kickoff for our next effort in this wg. 
> We so far have the requirements document and the secure smtp based edi
document ready to submit to the iesg. Our next effort is real time edi.
> The issue is -- bob, Carl and Lincoln have  touched on these in the last
few memos -- 1) we need real time edi not smtp and 2) http is not and efficient
> means to do this for high activity, large files. What are our options?

One think that I think would be good would be to define usage guidelines
for real-time smtp based EDI. In other words, use the draft RFC (ASN1)
as the basis of the standard, but define requirements for an
implementation that would qualify as "real time". What confuses people
is that most SMTP implementations are general purpose queuing and
store-and-forward implementations. A custom-built SMTP server (e.g.
built behind a firewall for EDI use only), could be very efficient and
fast, in comparison wo usual smtp/sendmail implementations.

This approach would have the advantage of being compatible with
any internet email system (incl. gateways).

Also, it would be useful to define ways of standardizing usage of
message headers (e.g. Subject:) so the off-line retrieve selected
message features can be used via the usual POP/IMAP "mailbox"
protocols with the ASN1 standard.

After "real-time" use of SMTP, a lightweight direct EDI-EDI
application messaging protocol could be defined, e.g. simple
SSL or secured IP, with X12 or EDIFACT without overhead.