The current state of affairs in the B2B integration arena remains dominated by the huge volume of EDI transactions that occur on a daily basis. Discussions with leading B2B service providers indicate that the current volume of worldwide EDI transactions is more than 20 million per day and accounts for a significant amount of worldwide commercial activity. In fact, earlier studies determined that more than one-third of the US GDP is directly supported by EDI transaction exchanges in the retail, manufacturing, financial, healthcare, logistics, food and beverage, and pharmaceutical sectors. EDI transaction volume will continue to grow, though at a slower rate than the other major alternatives.