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7 Oct 2000, Australia

Dear Dr Ecommerce,

I have 2 questions to ask:

What are the advantages and the disadvantages of EDI as compared to other forms of payment such as SET, smart card, EFTPOS?

How is Ecommerce based on and enabled by EDI and other
types of Ecommerce technologies(Email, fax,etc)

Thanks.

Jiason

Dear Jiason:

You have different concepts confused here.

EDI is electronic data interchange. It is a standard for transmitting data from one computer to another. EDI has been around for some time now and predates electronic commerce over the Internet. Although some people say EDI is obsolete because XML, online forms and other new techniques are more modern and simpler, there are still many organisations that use EDI for exchanging data. The truth is, EDI is changing to meet new needs. EDI is not, however, specifically about money.

SET is short for "secure electronic transaction" and it is a standard devised by credit card companies to make online credit card payments more secure.

A Smart Card is a credit card sized card which has a chip imbedded in it. The chip contains information which can be read by computers. Usually, this information is encrypted and requires a password or somesuch to access it. A smart card can be an electronic purse with digital money in it, a passport (one day, immigration at airports may simply swipe your smart card passport in a computer rather than examine a booklet), a medical information device which informs doctors of your health history, a combination of the above or something else entirely. A smart card is not necessarily about money, although many applications are transaction related.

EFTPOS is short for Electronic Fund Transfer At Point Of Sale and is a means of connecting point of sale credit card terminals at retailers with a host computer at a bank or credit card company.

As for your second question, I suggest you read Paul Timmers's introduction to e-commerce at http://www.ispo.cec.be/ecommerce/answers/introduction.html.

All the best,

Dr. Ecommerce

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