What is PEPPOL about?

PEPPOL is about openness - thus removing barriers for domestic and cross-border e-commerce.

PEPPOL 101

PEPPOL is also about linking isolated islands of e-business communities into one where everyone can connect with anyone.

Anyone can become a PEPPOL Access Point.

No peering agreements needed and no roaming fees allowed between PEPPOL Access Points.

The unique receiver discovery mechanism.

PEPPOL Technical Infrastructure

  • SML (Service Metadata Locator)

    • A DNS that returns the adress to the SMP that holds the metadata of a PEPPOL receiver. The SML is the only centrally operated component in the PEPPOL transport infrastructure. It is managed by OpenPEPPOL and operates out of Brussels by DG/DIGIT.

  • SMP (Service Metadata Publisher)

    • Publishes metadata about a PEPPOL receiver and which Access Point is used to receive a certain document type.

  • AP (Access Point)

    • connects with other PEPPOL Access Points to securely exchange files.

 

PEPPOL Security

  • Transactions between Access Points are secure: They are authenticated, integrity checked and encrypted.
  • The sending PEPPOL Access Point (corner 2) vouches for the identity of the sender (C1).
  • A receiving PEPPOL Access Point (C3) is not allowed to reject a file from a sending Access Point (C2) if the receiver (C4) is registered in an SMP (Service Metadata Publisher).