Electronic Mail

Electronic Mail

Electronic mail (e-mail) is technology for electronically transferring messages between networked computers. A LAN is an excellent platform for e-mail because it provides reliable, high-speed service at a low cost.

E-mail systems can service anything from a local workgroup, to a corporation, to the world. By installing e-mail routing devices, you can transfer mail smoothly and efficiently among several LANs. Moreover, e-mail also can be routed to and received from the Internet, which enables users in dozens of countries throughout the world to exchange electronic messages.

Early text-based e-mail has given way to elaborate systems that support embedded sound, graphics, and even video data.

The preferred e-mail system for Microsoft networks is Exchange, which is an advanced e-mail server included in Microsoft’s BackOffice. Other major e-mail packages include Novell’s Groupwise and Lotus Notes.

BackOffice is a suite of Microsoft products that are designed to run only on NT Server. These products include Exchange, Systems Management Server, Internet Information Server, SQL Server, and SNA Server.