Efficient e-mail

Citation

(1999), "Efficient e-mail", Work Study, Vol. 48 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/ws.1999.07948daf.004

Efficient e-mail

Most of us appreciate the value of e-mail and Web-based information resources but are often frustrated by the costs of multiple lines and multiple accounts as well as the time taken in downloading.

If you suffer such frustration, you may be interested in a new device from Intel called the Inbusiness eMail station. This is, in effect, an intelligent router which takes less than 20 minutes to install and provides LAN and Internet e-mail capabilities including automate send and retrieve of messages and remote dial-in e-mail.

The device is about the size of a paperback novel and designed for small businesses (fewer than 50 employees). Such firms normally get their e-mail capability via a dial-up internet connection from an Internet Service Supplier (ISP) using a PC and a modem. This route is often selected because the first e-mail experience is as a home based user and alternatives are not usually considered. Other issues are that some managers anticipate technical problems with any other approach, or see LAN-based connections as a security risk.

However, this one to one method can become cumbersome and costly if a business wants to provide, or appear to provide, access to e-mail for all its employees. Intel's new InBusiness eMail station allows internal and external e-mail capability to be given to all employees on the LAN using only a single ISP account and phone line.

Intel estimates that employees can spend a total of 50 hours a year downloading e-mail based on an average of five downloads a day at two minutes each. Many users know that too often problems with file attachments or images can result in much longer times spent downloading even if fewer accesses are made.

The eMail station saves a small business time and money by eliminating manual e-mail downloads and the need for multiple phone lines and ISP accounts for each employee. In fact Intel suggest that the eMail station will pay for itself in about five months and that companies with as little as five employees making internet access could save up to 45 per cent in one year on e-mail related costs.

The Intel eMail station provides automated send and retrieve of messages eliminating the time and costs wasted on manual e-mail downloads. Using the Intel appliance e-mail appears on the employee's mailbox without having to initiate a connection with the ISP.

The eMail station is set up to access the ISP at regular intervals, draw down mail for user users on the net or to send mail which had earlier been created and sent by users on the LAN. The faster process of both retrieve and send achieves savings but more importantly users are not involved in long waiting while an attached file is being downloaded. It will be there ready for the user when the ''e-mail waiting'' flag comes up.

Small businesses can look more professional through the use of their own domain name and e-mail recipients also recognise an e-mail source more quickly. The appliance handles all the basic domain administration.

The eMail station can be connected to the ISP through either an external analogue modem or through a router such as the Intel inBusiness internet station. The eMail station connects to a 10 or 10/100 megabit per sec (Mbps) hub or switch and works with any Post Office Protocol 3 (POP3) mail client such as Microsoft Outlook, Outlook Express or Netscape Mail.