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EDIFACT VIA THE WEB.

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Airline carriers developed what is called the electronic data interchange for administration, commercial, and transportation. This standard is mostly implemented in mainframe environments. Do you for see that the web with the vast tools it provides such as the XML may replace the traditional Host to Host communication?! And how?

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EDIFACT VIA THE WEB.

In reply to EDIFACT VIA THE WEB.

EDIFACT (Electronic Data Interchange for Administration, Commerce and Transport) is the (basically) European equivalent of the X12 standards used here in the US. EDI has been around for _at least_ 15 years (I’ve been involved in it for over 10 years myself) in it’s various flavors, X12 and EDIFACT being the most promenent.

No, I don’t see XML as something to replace either of these EDI formats… I _do_ however see XML as complementary to other EDI formats. The problem (as I see it) is this: a large company has multiple trading partners, each with their own XML web pages to EDI-enable their order process. The buyers at the large company don’t want to have to fill out forms on every one of these web pages to get a quote when they canfill out one form on their _own_ system and generate multiple requests to be sent (via traditional EDI) to all their trading partners at once.

XML is (IMHO) just another form of EDI. EDI after all stands for Electronic Data Interchange). Traditional EDI is designed

EDIFACT VIA THE WEB.

In reply to EDIFACT VIA THE WEB.

Thank you for the valuabel input. Please send me the contatc addrsses of those companies which produces the EDI solutions. Thank you.

EDIFACT VIA THE WEB.

In reply to EDIFACT VIA THE WEB.

******* continued *******
for computer-to-computer exchanges, not person-to-computer or computer-to-person (ever try to read an X12 document that hasn’t been unwrapped :^)? )

XML has it’s place, but it will _complement_ traditional EDI, not replace it.

Harold DeWayne, CECP

BTW: I know of lots of companies that are operating EDI (X12) on desktop computers and/or minicomputers. Harbinger, Sterling, PaperFree, and others produce some very fine products for all these platforms – PC based, UNIX, Windows NT, as well as mainframes.

EDIFACT VIA THE WEB.

In reply to EDIFACT VIA THE WEB.

EDIFACT VIA THE WEB.

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The coin’s other side

We are replacing our EDI applications (involving business, government and citizen interchanges with:
* a generic web browser
* Internet connectivity
* XML
* n-tier architecture

Here’s why:
* more reliable and simplier for clients and for application administrators
* XML standards which are frequently derived from EDI X12 standards
* much, much more flexible and adaptable
* conversions from VANs (like Sterling and Harbinger) are easy.

Further, XML files can be easily transmitted from Host to Host, then processed accordingly to client needs.

Take a look at the groups working on XML standards.

EDIFACT VIA THE WEB.

In reply to EDIFACT VIA THE WEB.

Thank you for the input. May I know your company prime activity? and your part in it?

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