Before there was REST and other http based standards ebXML was a hotness and tools like bizspark etc. You could see the logical progression through: I fill in

Before there was REST and other http based standards ebXML was a hotness and tools like bizspark etc. You could see the logical progression through: I fill in the order form and post it. They mail back an invoice. I fax the order form, they fax back an invoice. My computer sends the order form in a structured way over email. My computer sends the order form in a structured way over http. And that's why many large telcos and banks still use ebXML in their B2B transactions. It's fundamentally the same business process and logic it's always been, with glacially slow improvement in performance over time.