Re: multi-hop requirement

["William J. Kammerer" <wkammerer@foresightcorp.com>]

Sandy Klausner is puzzled by the inclusion of multi-hop capability in
the Transport, Routing & Packaging Version 0.91 document: "...no where
in the document is there a requirement description that explains one or
more practical deployments."

I'm puzzled, too, except I just never had the temerity to ask the
question since I don't know anything about such matters. But it does
seem kind of a low level transport matter - kind of X.400'ish.  I don't
think RosettaNet or BizTalk have such a thing, and SOAP only mentions it
circumspectly. RosettaNet specifically ignores it: "In RNIF 2.0,
RosettaNet is introducing a mechanism to facilitate exchange of these
messages through a third-party routing entity such as a hub (a.k.a.
intermediary). However this mechanism is still based on the peer-to-peer
message exchange model as far as the PIP is concerned."

Was the multi-hop capability meant to support intermediaries like VANs
and e-business switches (a.k.a. VANs with a new name)?  That's kind of
the way I read David Burdett's Multi-Hop Reliable Messaging Use Cases at
http://lists.ebxml.org/archives/ebxml-transport/200011/msg00018.html,
including follow-up messages.

William J. Kammerer
FORESIGHT Corp.
4950 Blazer Memorial Pkwy.
Dublin, OH USA 43017-3305
+1 614 791-1600

Visit FORESIGHT Corp. at http://www.foresightcorp.com/
"Commerce for a New World"