Mailbox madness

E-mail is all but free, part of Internet access itself, so the price is right. Log on. Gather up stored mail messages. Then log off. Simple but cheap. The bad news is that most of today's public and private E-mail systems implement an electronic version of the U.S. Post Office--drop the message into the ether mail slot, hope that it makes it to its destination, and once delivered have nothing more to do with it.

Today, in most cases the underlying engine that holds messages on a server relies on a POP, or Post Office Protocol, system. It is a standards-based streamlined software system, and quite robust--but simple. Connect up, and all mail is downloaded to the particular mailbox where the browser is located. It works, and well. POP servers (the latest version is POP3) are ubiquitous in the Internet world, and provide a cheap and easy way to deliver mail quickly.

The great advantage of the POP mail system is that it doesn't tie up either connection time, or server storage capacity. Messages are delivered in a burst, and read and replied to offline. Furthermore, once delivered they are wiped off the server, freeing up space. Mail systems based on POP servers are fine for the straightforward downloading of messages, but for anything more sophisticated, they are out of their depth.

Now it is time for E-mail to grow up and offer more flexibility to the user.

The new E-mail scheme, referred to as IMAP, for Internet Message Access Protocol, uses what might be called a personal mail server as opposed to personal mailbox, for every user. Mail would be cached in some central place, protected, stored and manipulated in one shared post office that could be accessed from anywhere, at any time. An individual mail server will handle all messages, manage storage and filing, and implement filters and automated responses at one central location rather than at every machine you might have occasion to log in on.

Unfortunately, this means not just buying new mail software, but also enhancing the hardware that services the mailboxes, bigger servers, more connection time and higher bandwidth for the connection. Someone has to pay for this. Because of this, in the strange and paradoxical economic logic of the web, it may never get off the ground no matter how good an idea it is.

E-mail wants to be free

The appearance of IMAP is supposed to bring many of these mail server features--the kind of services that have been available to large corporate E-mail users--to smaller companies and individuals. Eudora's WorldMail Server, a division of Qualcomm is one of the first consumer software products to implement the protocol. It has a street price of about $169 for a version with a 10-user license. The software essentially acts like a mail processing center--it can run at an Internet service provider site, or locally on a network. "We gather up all the messages sent to a company, or an individual," explains Tracy Crowe, senior product marketing manager for Eudora, "and let them take control of their E-mail."

For small to midsize businesses looking to manage their mail locally, an IMAP mail server like Eudora's could be an excellent choice if the network can handle the increased load. Set it up, download all the company mail to it every so often using an ISP's standard POP server, and everyone in the business can have a fully controllable mailbox. The Eudora WorldMail Server provides a powerful, and low-cost way to implement it.

The idea is to change the paradigm from offline access, to online. In the latter, while connected the user manipulates messages, sets filters, and replies to mail. The mail box, and its contents stay on the server. This means lots more server storage. According to Crowe, "there has been lots of interest in this from ISPs [Internet service providers] who see it as a way to provide an enhanced and value-added service to their customers."

Lots of interest, but not many implementations yet, according to Eric Arnum, Editor of Electronic Mail & Messaging Systems (EMMS), a Washington, D.C.-based newsletter that tracks the industry. As of his latest calculations, there are now some 167 million mailboxes worldwide, "but I challenge you to find any IMAP ones," he says. By far the larger number of mailboxes are private--addresses maintained within company or government computer networks for employee communications. These use mainframe, shared file, and client-server solutions to provide server-based systems. Most of these systems make use of some form of proprietary software, and take advantage of local network connections to offer some pretty sophisticated capabilities like the groupware of Lotus' Notes, or the integrated calendaring Microsoft's Exchange. But they depend on the company Information Systems (IS) department, and are complicated and expensive to maintain. In other words, they already offer the equivalent of IMAP features, and most commercial packages claim to support it already.

The much faster growing segment of the market is in public and online service E-mail such as AT&T Mail and Fabrik; free services like Juno and HotMail; as well as subscription-based systems like AOL. By far the fastest growth has been in the free E-mail services--companies that offer free E-mail in exchange for seeing ads. These mailboxes have grown from 3.3 million a year ago to 17.5 million in September. The inescapable conclusion? "Email wants to be free," says Arnum. "Any new scheme that requires expensive upgrades is unlikely to get off the ground."

The reality of the game is that the ISPs are not going to pay for beefing up their hardware when they can't charge much for it. The real battleground for the new protocol will be for corporate mail systems, where IMAP will force down prices for full-featured systems. "IMAP-based systems could do well here, where there is money to support the new implementation and security reasons enough to make the mail system work through the Internet," Arnum continues. "But this is no easy sell. Deciding to upgrade an existing E-mail system is no decision you'll make lightly."

But when E-mail is free, how many will pay?

1 of 1

E-mail story Send comments	Print story Request a reprint

		Save $64 on your Forbes Subscription! 17 issues for only $19.99 Risk-Free Money-Back Guarantee Tell us where to send your copies of Forbes:   Name: Address: State:          Zip: --AAABAEALAKAPASARAZBCCACOCTDCDEFLFMGAGUHIIAIDILINKSKYLAMAMBMDMEMHMIMNMOMPMSMTNBNCNDNENFNHNJNMNSNTNVNYOHOKONORPAPEPRPWQCRISCSDSKTNTXUTVAVIVTWAWIWVWYYT       Email: City:   Click 'Continue' to view offer terms