SBA * Consulting LTD

YOU'VE GOT MAIL. Once only a Jetsons pipe dream, today electronic mail is virtually a utility -- as omnipresent as phones and faxes for business and personal communications. There are more business related e-mail messages sent in a day than regular mail, and probably more than even business telephone calls. Why? Because it's quick, efficient and low cost.

The most familiar manufacturers of e-mail programs are probably America Online, Netscape, Microsoft and Qualcomm (Eudora) -- but there are many different products available in the marketplace--and many of them are free.

At its most basic, e-mail is a means for sending messages to anyone in the world who also has an e-mail address -- almost instantaneously -- for the cost, usually, of a local phone call. It also offers users the ability to attach documents to the mail messages in a variety of formats. Other benefits of e-mail include the ability to trace mail, to send messages securely--with encryption and digital signatures.

History

In 1972, the first software was created that allowed e-mail to be sent between computers, thus launching what has become the most popular application of computer networks and the Internet. In 1989, the first gateways were created between networks and the Internet, allowing wide area communication.

The format of a typical e-mail message is similar to a memorandum. Each e-mail message contains a 'to,' a 'from,' a 'subject,' and a 'date.' These are (with the exception of a subject) usually required. In addition, you can add a cc ('carbon copy'), a bcc ('blind carbon copy'), attachments (any type of file) and of course your message (body). New versions of e-mail programs now permit HTML codes to be embedded into the message, thus allowing a Web-like e-mail to be sent.

Unique to e-mail messages is the ability to attach computer files to the message. This capability makes sending e-mail efficient and cost effective. When choosing an e-mail program, look for special features such as encoding options, security tools and directory capabilities.

E-mail programs are available for almost every operating system, from UNIX to DOS, Windows to Macintosh and even OS/2.

Client: A software program that sits on your machine and ultimately talks with a server program located on another computer.

There are two basic types of e-mail clients: Clients that use POP3 (Post Office Protocol) to retrieve messages and clients that use IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol). IMAP, while providing an enhanced feature set, is not quite the industry norm as of yet.

I will focus in on POP3 clients. Many of the newer e-mail programs are being made with the ability to use both types of protocols.

POP3 uses a store and forward scheme, where for the most part, e-mail is deleted off the server and remains on the client. IMAP4 uses an anti-POP3 approach, which is based around keeping all the e-mail on the server.

Server: A host program on another computer which responds to client requests and processes information.

IMAP is considered the next step in e-mail, allowing many different types of e-mail, such as voice mail and faxing, along with broader security features.

It also permits users to access mailboxes from many different types of clients, without deleting information from the mailbox.

Here are three other features to look for:

Encoding: Encoding is another term for file conversion ñ changing file types so a file can be transferred through the Internet. There are three schemes: MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions), Uuencode (Unix to Unix Encode) and Binhex (Binary Hexidecimal). Each allows attachments to be sent via e-mail and displayed at the client. MIME is quickly becoming the defacto standard.

Directories: LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol) is a offshoot of an Internet standard that uses a public address book scenario to help users find e-mail addresses. Many of the newer e-mail clients have the ability to use LDAP.

Security Features: These vary, from accepting and sending S/MIME (Secure MIME) to permitting plug-ins for PGP (Pretty Good Privacy program) among others. Unfortunately, there is no security standard today. Check which types of security your e-mail client accepts or can use.

Web-based e-mail programs are divided into free services provided by portal (Web site) owners, and software that an Internet Service Provider or company can install on their systems to allow access to e-mail. Most work use POP3, but a new breed of Web-enabled browsers using Java will be coming out, to work with IMAP servers.

Which product to use? Ultimately, it's both a personal issue and an office decision. I have personally used several of the products and depending on my needs have switched or still use them. It is up to you.

Wayne Spivak is president of Bellmore, N.Y.'s SBA*Consulting. His e-mail address is wspivak@sbaconsulting.com.

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