Chapter 2: Networking

Chapter 2: Networking

Overview

It would be possible to write quite a number of books on networks. In fact, some people already have. So rather than reinvent the wheel, I will summarize some of the points of particular significance to X.400 and SMTP.

Standards are useful in industry for almost every product, but nowhere are they more vital than when they describe an interface between components from different producers. This is the very essence of networking, or the connection of computing equipment.

While stand-alone computers may have been popular and sufficient some time ago, those days are gone. Outside of exceptionally stringent security needs, it is unthinkable for anyone to have a computer that cannot be connected to any others.

It might be nice if all of the vendors would just get together and design a standard piece of networking software that could be installed on every computer, allowing it to communicate with any other. We all know that won?t happen, though. And the problem is not a conspiracy to keep people confused.

One problem is the issue of the different needs of different applications. Some may need highly reliable data delivery, while others are satisfied with a valiant attempt. Some may need a strict ordering of data, while others just want it to arrive there. In some cases, segments of data should arrive together or not at all.

Besides differing needs, we also have different means with which to work. To exploit their full potential, we need to...

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X.400 and SMTP: Battle of the E-Mail Protocols

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