Electronic mail and message handling is a rapidly expanding field which incorporates both telecommunications and computer technologies. It combines the old technologies of telex, telegram, and analog facsimile with the new systems of Teletex, digital facsimile, and computer-based messaging. This book answers the questions What is electronic mail? and Why is it important? The major systems, services, technology, and standardization issues are comprehensively surveyed.

For computer professionals familiar with networking, a quick introduction to electronic mail and a major set of international protocol standards, clearly distinguishing the latest from the earlier versions. Also suitable for use in graduate or undergraduate courses on distributed systems design. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR