INTERMAIL, an Experimental Mail Forwarding System

摘要

The evolution of large electronic mail systems testifies to the increasing importance of electronic mail as a means of communication and coordination throughout the scientific research community. These systems include the DARPA Internet mail system, the GTE Telemail system, the MCI Mail system, and the IEEE Compmail system. Until now these systems have operated autonomously, and no convenient mechanism has existed to allow users of one system to send electronic mail to users on another system. INTERMAIL is an experimental mail forwarding system which allows users to send electronic mail across such mail system boundaries. The use of INTERMAIL is transparent, in that users on each system are able to use their usual mail programs to prepare, to send, and to receive messages. No modications to any of the mail programs on any of the systems are required. This paper describes the implementation of the INTERMAIL system and discusses some of the problems associated with the interconnection of mail systems. The following sections provide: background information on the various mail systems using INTERMAIL; An overview of the current INTERMAIL implementation; Alternative approaches to addressing in a mail forwarding system; A discussion of the INTERMAIL user interface; A review of the open issues in the area of mail forwarding.