Chapter 8: Heterogeneous Mail Networks

Chapter 8: Heterogeneous Mail Networks

Other Messaging Backbones

In past years a number of companies experimented with departmental implementations of various mail systems. Although this was a good first step, the use of mail has become increasingly important, and it has been necessary to link an array of disparate applications together. This has turned out to be a formidable task.

We can distinguish, somewhat arbitrarily, between three kinds of mail systems:


	1.	Traditional corporate e-mail systems. These robust backbones were developed for large-scale enterprise use. They are primarily host-based, often with a terminal interface available. Now sometimes seen as legacy applications, although their interfaces and functionality are continuously being improved. Examples in this category might include PROFS, ALL-IN-1 and OpenMail.


	2.	Primarily LAN-based. Files reside on PC file services, often called post offices. Several users are assigned to each post office and access those files directly. Dedicated programs run to transfer mail from one post office to another. Examples in this category include cc:Mail or Microsoft Mail.


	3.	Client-server. The current leadership in the market belongs to a set of products that work exclusively in client-server mode. They address the corporate needs for robustness and security while at the same time offering end-users the functionality and intuitive interface of the PC. They support the necessary protocols to function as their own backbone and to connect to a variety of other mail systems and backbones. Lotus Notes and Microsoft Exchange are the market leaders in this category.

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