Electronic Data Interchange - EDI
Inter-company computer-to-computer communications of data that performs the function of a standard business document and is in a standard data format. For pure EDI "computer-to-computer" means, "original-application-program to processing-application-program." To the purist, EDI consists only of business data, not verbiage or free-form messages. Purists also may contend that a "standard" format is one that has been approved by a national or international standards organization,