RE: EDI over http?

["Carl Hage" <carl@xxxxxxxxx>]

> From:          Rik Drummond <drummond@xxxxxxxxxx>

> How about IMAP4 for the protocol for real-time/ interactive EDI instead
> of HTTP or SMTP? 

IMAP4 (and POP3) would be useful for non-real-time EDI, e.g. for TPs 
which do not have dedicated IP connections and need to periodically 
check a "mailbox" for stored messages awaiting delivery.

IMAP and POP are particularly unsuitable for real-time EDI, since 
they are basically servers that repond to polling for any messages to 
be delivered. It's also unsuitable for dedicated IP users, since 
messages won't get delivered unless the recipient polls thier IMAP 
server.

IMAP/POP would be better than proprietary/custom dialup protocols 
where the small TP must periodically dial a big TP to check for 
messages. However, it makes more sense for an ISP/VAN to provide 
IMAP/POP service. (All ISPs for dialup accounts use POP or IMAP, 
except maybe AOL with proprietary protocols.)

IMAP/POP is already supported by AS1 based EDI. However, one feature 
not availble is to selectively download a particular message after 
querying all messages. An "IMAP" or "POP" standard for EDI would 
define a standard way of using the RFC822 email headers (e.g. 
Subject: ) so that a recipient could query and downloaded selected 
messages, e.g. in sequence order, or of a certain size or type. 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Carl Hage                                              C. Hage Associates
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<http://www.chage.com/chage/>                          Sunnyvale, CA 94086