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EDI Implementation

There is a great deal of flexibility in the way EDI can be implemented. Some approaches include:
 
  1. Use of a commercial EDI provider company. EDI users establish a "leased line" or dial-in link to the provider, usually in the context of a turnkey EDI package. The provider implements a "mail box" where EDI messages are lodged to await delivery to the recipient. There is obviously a problem where trading partners are connected to a different EDI service - EDI users simply have to subscribe to more than one provider.
  2. In the past, it has been relatively common for telecommunications companies such as Telstra Australia to offer electronic mail facilities based on the OSI X.400 protocols. Prior to the emergence of the Internet as "the only game in town", an X.400 email service could be used as a carrier for EDI messages. Your lecturer is uncertain as to how much use was ever made of this option, and X.400 is hardly ever used anymore.

 


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