Ted,
A long, long, long, long, long, long, long (you get the point) time ago, I had to deal with an EDI-compliant system. As to what I remember about it, did I mention that it was a long time ago?
Seems like we used Platinum accounting software to interface with an EDI system for processing online orders for a food company. I don't know what made it/prevented it from being EDI-compliant, as my job was only to deal with the servers - which, at that particular company - running ThinNet between two buildings - was tough enough.