A PEPPOL Access Point is a certified service provider that connects businesses to the PEPPOL network. It handles the secure transmission of documents (invoices, orders, etc.) between sender and receiver using the PEPPOL AS4 transport protocol.
The PEPPOL 4-corner model:
[Sender] → [Sender's Access Point] → [Receiver's Access Point] → [Receiver]
Access Points discover each other via the SMP (Service Metadata Publisher) and SML (Service Metadata Locator) lookup chain — a DNS-based directory of PEPPOL participants.
To become a certified Access Point, a service provider must pass OpenPEPPOL's conformance testing and sign the PEPPOL Transport Infrastructure Agreement (TIA).
Key facts
- Transport protocol: PEPPOL AS4 (based on AS4 / ebMS 3.0)
- Discovery: SMP + SML (DNS-based participant registry)
- Certification: granted by OpenPEPPOL after conformance testing
- Role: acts as a trusted intermediary — similar to a digital post office
- Swiss-certified access point providers: several, including Swiss Post and ERP vendors