XML

The functionality of eXtensible Markup Language (XML) goes far beyond the realm of EDI. EDI is one of many applications for XML, and it's also known as XML/EDI. XML may be utilized both inside and between organizations.

The World Wide Web Consortium (the W3C) created and published the XML standard. XML includes a variety of other standards, such as eXtensible Stylesheet Language (XSL) for data representation and Xlink for standardized linked pages. The XSL family is a set of recommendations for transforming and formatting XML documents, made up of three parts: XSLT, XPath, and XSL-FO (see: http://www.w3c.org/style/XSL) With the eXML Linking Language, contents from multiple documents may be linked to one another. This will be an important element of future system integration tools. XML evolved far more quickly than UN/EDIFACT did, and its usage as a data exchange format became widespread in a ‘bottom-up' approach; however, the demand for XML-based exchange formats is now coming from the ‘top-down’ as well. Global organizations such as the United Nations are beginning to standardize on XML for their data interchange requirements.