The client sends and receives EDI to CommerceQuest, which does the translation for the non-EDI company. CommerceQuest clients include Global 2,000 companies as well as e-business companies looking to link with business partners. Services like CommerceQuest make it less likely that companies will implement their own EDI capabilities, since that interoperability can be outsourced. At the same time, such services typically use XML exclusively internally and communicate with XML users. For EDI companies, the motivations emerge from some of the drawbacks to EDI itself.
Most EDI traffic flows over VANs, which can be expensive.
The open and free Internet beckons, and while EDI over the Internet is possible, it's not fun. In contrast, XML is a child of the Internet and seems a more natural format to use. As with the original adoption of EDI, one draw of XML is the fact that your potential business partners may be using it. For example, SupplySolution Inc. in Santa Barbara, Calif., aims to calm supply chain nightmares for clients with its i-Supply service. SupplySolution says it doesn't see either EDI or XML as complete answers, but as parts of a package it can offer clients.