TABLE OF CONTENTS Messaging is the oldest form of telecommunication. People have communicated via written letters for centuries, and the telex has allowed people to exchange written messages at the speed of light since the mid-1800s.
Telephony upstaged the telex for most of the twentieth century, but eventually the computer industry revived electronic messaging. Early messaging systems were often specific to a particular computer system, and the few standards like X.400 were complex because there was no universal transport network to build on. But the Internet has simplified messaging dramatically, and has turned into the universal telecommunications application it is today.
Mobile networks have been another factor in the success of electronic messaging. The SMS in GSM networks has proved to be the ideal complement for voice communications, because of its asynchronous, store and forward nature. In spite of its limited message size, mobility and universal availability (roaming) have made SMS one of the most spectacularly successful services. The more sophisticated MMS now also promises to lift the technical limitations of short messaging.
Messaging has become an absolutely essential tool for business. Not only has it become the electronic alternative for surface mail, fax, and document interchange, but it has also created new channels for reaching out to customers and providing new services. In this chapter we shall study how enterprises can use electronic messaging technologies for the benefit of their business.
In the 1980s, a small community of computer users started using an IP application called electronic mail
