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Popular Messaging Systems

The following sections focus on the pros and cons of the leading messaging systems on the market today that can be installed in companies.

Lotus cc:Mail. Lotus cc:Mail has dominated LAN-based systems since its introduction a few years ago. cc:Mail provides efficient directory services and most of the features anyone would need. It handles many of the common APIs available and operates on most platforms. Many other E-mail systems imitate cc:Mail, but it has remained the market leader.

IBM Office Vision 400. IBM Office Vision had difficult beginnings. It survived mainly on the strength of IBM in the mainframe market. Distributed Office Support System (DISOSS), which eventually became Office Vision/Multiple Virtual Storage (OV/MVS), is a very large system requiring a well-trained, knowledgeable staff. It is not the most user-friendly system and has the limited 8*8 (DGN.DEN) addressing common to SNA Distribution Services (SNADS)-based systems. PROFS, the precursor of OV/VM, is a much more user-friendly system that can use nickname files, includes a calendar feature, and has a more flexible directory system.

The most popular entry in the Office Vision stable is OV/400. The AS/400 platform is quite possibly the biggest seller after the PC. AS/400 is extremely popular in Europe and the U.S. Although OV/400 still uses the SNADS 8*8 addressing, it does have the personal address book feature popular in other systems. OV/400 also has the calendar capability found in OV/VM. Gateways are available for X.400 and the more popular APIs.

DEC All-in-One. Digital Equipment Corp. offers two of the older and most popular E-mail systems today. VMSmail, like UNIX Sendmail, is a utility feature in the VMS operating system. It is a command-line-oriented system that is strongly enhanced by the availability of DEC’s Message Router system. Even with the overwhelming popularity of full-screen systems, there are still many VMSmail systems active today.

The mainstay for DEC E-mail systems is All-in-One. This is a full-service, full-screen presentation E-mail system. Along with MAILbus, DEC All-in-One supports X.400 and SMTP as well as X.500 directory protocols.

All-in-One can operate on a standalone VAX as well as an entire network of VAXs interconnected via DECnet. With MAILbus, All-in-One interfaces with LANs and other E-mail systems including OV/VM and OV/400 via SNADS. Many companies with multiple E-mail systems use All-in-One and MAILbus as their central hub system. Distributed directory services (DDS) capability, combined with the X.500 protocols, ensure that this system will be around for a while.

HP Open Desk Manager. HP Open Desk Manager is the premier system for UNIX-based E-mail on midrange systems. HP mail is based on SMTP and therefore readily interfaces with the Internet. Hewlett-Packard also offers a full X.400 system, which allows it to communicate with commercial service providers. The flexibility of HP Open Desk Manager includes interfaces to cc:Mail and Microsoft Mail, as well as Wang and Office Vision systems. The directory service is extremely flexible and allows for local and remote entries in various formats. The directory allows the user to search on a number of fields in the database, making this a very useful tool.

Lotus Notes. Compared with the other products, Lotus Notes is a fairly new arrival. However, with the strength of Lotus, now backed by IBM, Notes will most likely be around for a long time.

Notes is a true workgroup system that incorporates the spreadsheet capabilities of Lotus 1-2-3 with a database/foldering capability that has made it instantly popular. Many people wonder how the two products — Lotus cc:Mail and Lotus Notes — will develop. cc:Mail will probably take over as the E-mail engine for Notes eventually.

Microsoft Mail. The dominance of Microsoft in the computer industry has almost guaranteed success for the various E-mail products they offer. The original MSmail for the Macintosh is still popular and one of the most widely used. MSmail for the PC is the old Network Courier, acquired by Microsoft years ago.

Microsoft’s new Microsoft Mail Exchange is based on the Windows NT server. It interfaces the older products into the NT systems and includes interfaces to cc:Mail, Lotus Notes, and others. Microsoft Mail uses the X.400 gateway. Other X.400 software vendors also offer gateways for Microsoft Mail. Standard with Microsoft Mail Exchange is the SMTP gateway, which interfaces to the Internet for E-mail. Microsoft is also offering software for direct access to the Internet.

Fisher TAO. Fisher International has been a very strong player in the E-mail market with EMCEE. This is a mainframe-based system that runs on the VMS platform. The newer version, EMCEE/TAO, incorporates paging facilities along with calendar and X.400 gateways. It offers the usual SNADS gateway as well as SMTP and LAN message handling system (MHS) connectivity. The company plans to add an X.500 capability, which should significantly enhance its market share.

Memo. This mainframe E-mail system was developed by Verimation in Europe for a single client. It became so popular there that they started marketing Memo in the U.S. Two years ago they added X.400, and more recently an SMTP gateway, and the product is still selling. Memo owns a sizeable share of the messaging market primarily in Europe.

BeyondMail. Banyan Systems’ BeyondMail does not command a large portion of the E-mail market, but it is important to mention because it is the guidepost against which E-mail systems should be measured. Since its introduction about five years ago, BeyondMail has had more functions and features than any of its competitors. It easily accesses documents from other applications such as MS Word, WordPerfect, and Lotus 1-2-3. It has a very flexible and powerful directory service based on Novell MHS. It includes an SMTP gateway and runs on UNIX, which makes it a natural for linking with the Internet. BeyondMail also runs on Windows, DOS, and Mac platforms. There is also a link to calendar and scheduling systems and a rules-based scripting language that helps the user interface with other applications on the LAN.

QuickMail. CE Software QuickMail is probably the best known of the Macintosh-based E-mail systems. There are more than 2.5 million users. This product is very popular in the advertising and publishing industries. It also runs on Windows and DOS platforms; however, the Mac is where it shines. QuickMail interfaces well with word processing packages on the Mac and is capable of sending attached files, including drawings. There are many gateways to commercial systems and the Internet, making this a popular and versatile system.

GroupWise. Novell is the newest entry into the E-mail market. However, due to the strength of Novell in the industry, GroupWise ranks about third in the LAN market with more than 11% of the mailboxes. GroupWise can link to other systems via MHS and has an SMTP gateway to access E-mail on the Internet. Several X.400 software vendors offer gateways for GroupWise, making the worldwide reach of this system impressive.

CONCLUSION

This chapter has discussed all of the necessary features to look for in an E-mail package for corporate use. In summary, the leading E-mail packages are described and compared. Most of the different E-mail systems use gateways between each other, so there is little overlap of user populations and almost everyone is able to communicate with each other. Unfortunately, it is still difficult to find someone’s address. Among all of the E-mail systems on the market, cc:Mail leads the LAN systems with number of mailboxes installed, and IBM Office Vision is on top of the list of midsize and mainframe systems.


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