“Electronic data interchange (EDI) provides an excellent context for examining how interoperability at the technological and data level can also produce profound effects at a higher, institutional level. Originally conceived as a means for speeding up the delivery of invoices and purchase orders by sending them electronically, EDI resulted in significant shifts with regard to retailer-supplier relations that went far beyond transaction efficiency…This case study, via SSRN, is part of an ongoing series developed in support of a larger text on interoperability by John Palfrey and Urs Gasser Interop: The Promise and Perils of Highly Interconnected Systems (Basic Books, June 2012). The book is an extension of their 2007 study and paper, “Breaking Down Digital Barriers: When and How ICT Interoperability Drives Innovation” (Berkman Center Research Publication, 2007). Interop: The Promise and Perils of Highly Interconnected Systems focuses on the relationship between interoperability and innovation in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) environment and beyond. Palfrey and Gasser seek to sharpen the definition of interoperability and identify its relevance for consumers, companies, governments, and the public by examining its driving forces and inhibitors, while considering how it can best be achieved, and why.”