Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) is defined as the inter-process (computer application to computer application) communication of business information in a standardized electronic form. Therefore, Internet could be very useful because not only the communications are for interpersonal (person-to-person) like e-mail but also for inter-processing (process-to-process) like EDI.

For high reliability mission critical applications, redundant Internet Service Providers (ISPs) may be used (with separate backbones), and redundant mail servers at separate locations can be used. A single Internet email or server address can be used to transparently route to any of the redundant servers or network connections. If a dedicated Internet connection is used to transmit important information, the message should be delivered directly to the trading partner's system so that the delivery is assured.

The major uses of EDI are:

• To avoid re-keying EDI orders and invoices
• To achieve error reduction
• To eliminate redundant paper-based transactions
• To reduce document storage costs
• To reduce personnel overhead
• To log all transactions sent through EDI
• To increases sales due to faster order processing