There are two common ways to integrate trading partners for B2B. They are listed as follows.
In this model, both trading partner organizations have in-house IT and can directly transact EDI messages. There are systems in place to send and receive EDI transactions over point-to-point protocols without any mediator or middleman.
In this model, one of the trading partners is a small-to-medium business player who cannot afford in-house IT. In order to facilitate EDI interactions, there is a middleman, or the EDI service provider, who acts as a liaison between the two partners. The service provider talks about EDI to a trading partner on one end and transacts non-EDI (such as XLS/XML) with the other trading partner. The service provider charges a fee based on transaction size/volume or the complexity of the protocols used.
Value Added Networks (VANs) are specialized networks offering end-to-end B2B services in a service...