Hi,
It is just format of the file similar to .doc,.pdf etc.
As a PI consultant you only need to bother about below
1)Is it just pick and drop or transformation required ?
2)If it requires transformation then need to focus on whether it is in xml format or not ,if not how to convert using fcc or custom module or java mapping .
3)Are they placing in file server or not ?
4)Does ports to your PI machine or not?
5)What service they enabled to PI (telnet,ssl,...etc)
Regards
Venkat