Service providers are discovering that customers want them to provide a wide array of electronic services including, email services. To meet these needs, SunTM has recently released SunTM Internet Mail ServerTM 4.0.

Topics in this chapter include:

What is Internet messaging?

What is Sun Internet Mail Server?

What is new in Sun Internet Mail Server 4.0?

What is Internet Messaging?

The Internet has effectively lowered the cost of electronic communication. As the number of people and organizations connected to the Internet has grown, the Internet has evolved into a new channel for communication. To facilitate Internet services, Internet messaging clients and easy-to-use web browsers have provided cost-effective way of publishing and sharing information with employees inside the enterprise as well as customers, suppliers, and partners outside.

Messaging services has become crucial to enterprise infrastructure in the 1990s. Organizations are seeking messaging solutions that provide a lower cost of ownership while increasing the effectiveness and reliability of their communications network. Specifically, they are evaluating the benefits of Internet standards-based messaging systems.

Standard-based messaging systems typically include native or gateway support, some of which include:

Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP)--for reliable, end-to-end transfer of messages

Multi-Purpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME)--for transmitting rich or complex messages

Post Office Protocol version 3 (POP3)--for delivering messages to millions of POP3 capable clients

Internet Message Access Protocol version 4 (IMAP4)--for state-of-the-art message interoperability between clients and servers

Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP)--for creating an integrated directory service to centralize user management

Standard Network Management Protocol (SNMP)--for enabling network wide management of the messaging system

Secure Sockets Layer (SSL)--for providing robust, enterprise-ready encryption

What is Sun Internet Mail Server?

Sun Internet Mail Server is a full-featured, Internet standards-based that enables reliable, encrypted electronic messaging inside and outside the enterprise. It supports all the standard-based messaging systems, including SMTP, MIME, POP3, IMAP, LDAP, SNMP, SSL, DNS, UUCP, and TCP/IP, to create a single, low-cost messaging infrastructure for internal and external communications.

Sun Internet Mail Server 4.0 enables service providers to extend their messaging service infrastructure from basic consumer hosting services to messaging hosting services for corporate customers.

Architected from the ground up, SIMS scales from workgroups to thousands of concurrently active users.

With native support for virtual domains and delegated management, Sun Internet Mail Server 4.0 increases the flexibility of deployment for service providers as they extend their messaging services.

SIMS Key Features

Sun Internet Mail Server is based entirely on end-to-end, native Internet Standards.

The key features of Sun Internet Mail Server include:

IMAP4 server--enabling centralized message storage and disconnected support

POP3 server--supporting popular POP3 e-mail clients

Message Store--providing safe, high-performance, scalable repository of mail messages

Multi-threaded MTA--providing scalability and high message throughput

LDAP directory--providing centralized network user, resource, and distribution information

JavaTM software--providing administration for all administration features

On-line documentation--enabling easy access information for the product

SSL 3.0 client/server security--providing reliable messaging services

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Note - See "SIMS Components Features" on page 33 in Chapter 5, "SIMS Architecture" for a complete list of the features that the SIMS 4.0 product offers.

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SIMS 4.0 Benefits

Key benefits of Sun Internet Mail Server 4.0 include:

Lower total cost of ownership--approximately one-third the initial hardware/software price of Microsoft Exchange

Performance--as many as 120,000 concurrent IMAP4/POP3 users on single server

Scalability--three to four times the numbers of users on equivalent hardware compared to other mail systems

High reliability---based on the Solaris operating environment

High availability--based on Sun Enterprise Cluster 2.2 architecture

Various Sun clients--including Sun Web Access, MAPI, and Solaris DTMail

Wide range of standards--based on third-party clients tested with top twelve Internet mail clients

What is New in Sun Internet Mail Server 4.0?

The key features of Sun Internet Mail Server 4.0 includes virtual domain hosting and delegated management capabilities that enable the service providers to deliver outsourcing services to their corporate consumers.

Sun Internet Mail Server 4.0 is specifically designed for service providers who are moving from hosting traditional consumers messaging to corporate message application hosting (business outsourcing). It provides a secure and reliable platform on which corporate customers could host multiple messaging services.

New SIMS 4.0 Key Features

The features new to SunTM Internet Mail ServerTM 4.0 include:

Virtual hosted domains support--Service providers can host messaging for several companies on one server, enabling corporate customers to preserve their unique corporate identities.

Web-based Delegated management console--Web HTML console for SP's customers to perform day-to-day management tasks, such as user and distribution list management, resulting in lower management costs for SPs and increased flexibility for their customers.

Extensive Provisioning tools--Customer are allowed to provision against the directory for both batch applications and integration with billing and management interfaces.

Enhanced Directory Server support--The product supports Netscape Directory Server 4.1 as well as Sun Directory Server 3.1.

Service Level restrictions--Allows customer to set controls on access (POP, IMAP, HTML) and quotas on a domain and user basis.