Re: EDI over the internet

["Paul E. Hoffman" <phoffman@xxxxxxx>]

>Unless most businesses follow the above standard procedures, there is no
>way they will
>start communicating over the internet anytime soon.

I am confused as to why you feel this. Any two companies that have:
- simple Internet connections
- software that supports the EDI protocols adapted by this group
- some agreement of terms
could start communicating immediately. The Internet connections do not need
to be full-time connections, and could be as trivial as the ones that most
individuals have today. The software will probably be specialized email
software from EDI-knowledgable companies, or possibly EDI add-ons to
current email software packages.

Companies that currently rely on VANs would have a tendancy to continue to
do so as long as the price of the VAN is competitive with the price of
EDI-over-email. Given that most of these customers are unsavvy about the
Internet, as long as the VANs added some value such as training, logging,
and other support, they could continue to be attractive even to people who
are using just the Internet.

--Paul E. Hoffman, Director
--Internet Mail Consortium