Re: EDI over http?

[Jonathan Allen <jonathan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Dennis,

> I see that the OBI (Open Buying on the Internet) group has selected HTTP
> for its transfer protocol, presumably because they anticipate that most
> orders will be placed by a human using a browser.

Global Strategic Concept's WebEDI product, which uses a Java applet to
originate EDI directly at the client, in the browser (ie no translations
at the server or proprietory internal formats), uses SMTP.

They implement any transaction set that you can conceive filling out on
a screen, but of course including POs, directly from the implementation
convention, doing all the compliance checking and stuff in the browser
at point of input before the data message even starts on its way.

All transactions done this way must be from a browser, and SMTP offers
the most crucial facility for SME's wanting to get into Web-based commerce
without maintaining an on-line presence: store-and-forward.  Using SMTP
the data can all be held at an ISP and streamed down in batches from a
dial-up connection.

Check it out at:   http://www.edivan.net

Jonathan
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