Message Queue vs. TCP using ISO8583 messages

Question

I would like some opinions regarding transporting ISO8583 messages on a transport medium. What are the pro's and con's using TCP vs. Message Queue when sending ISO8583 messages? Which option would be better for different environments?

Answer 1

ISO8583 is a logical message format which can be transported over nearly any medium. TCP and "Message Queue" are at very different communications abstraction layers (OSI 4 vs 7) so they are not really directly comparable. What are your requirements? eg. reliability, recoverability, performance, data protection, transactionality, auditability

Answer 2

In addition to glennb's answer... When you send out an iso8583 message, take into consideration the system that will receive it. Sample scenario: you are sending to a clearing house system which listens to a tcpip port. That clearing house system may have chosen TCP because it requires reliable, ordered delivery of information between two participating network entities.