The X.400 Standards
The internationally accepted standards for messaging are collectively defined in the X.400 recommendations of the International Telecommunication Union. The first standards were issued in 1984, with major improvements following in 1988 and further enhancements annually since 1992.
X.400 messaging supports any kind of object without limitation: text with any character set, spreadsheets, graphics, multimedia including video and voice, and no restriction on message length or enclosed object size. Acknowledgements and confirmations ensure guaranteed delivery and no message can be lost between sender and recipient.
The X.500 Standards
Directory services are defined in the X.500 recommendations. Large e-mail networks present particular administrative problems: not only does the administrator need to be able to distribute addresses to the user community, but also the information necessary to route messages to the destination mail host. X.500 provides a means of storing this information and much more in a scalable distributed database.
Products are still new and have not yet reached the same degree of market penetration as X.400-based products, not least because their availability is still limited. It is, however, only a matter of time before the early adopters are joined by other implementers and X.500 products are commonly found in productive use world-wide. NET-TEL is well placed to take advantage of the expected growth in demand for X.500 capable products.
Introducing Route400 Products into an Organisation
Route400 and Route500 products help to deliver solutions with the greatest flexibility: they can be used alone or mixed and matched with proprietary products. With X.400 and X.500 enjoying universal international acceptance, there is no danger of obsolescence.
Access to the Internet using the SMTP protocol for e-mail is fully supported, as is the MIME extension which is gaining in popularity for complex multi-part messages. An interface for sending and receiving faxes is a standard option. There are several levels of X.400 usage that an organisation may adopt and it is worthwhile looking at these:
Proprietary products with a Route400 Gateway
Where a single proprietary e-mail or messaging application is in operation throughout an organisation, selecting Route400 and installing a message server together with the appropriate gateway product will enable inter-enterprise communication with partners connected to any X.400 network or service. This attractive approach introduces X.400 access into an organisation and provides the appropriate level of functionality needed for satisfactory operation.
Proprietary products with a Route400 backbone
Where several different e-mail systems are jointly operational within an organisation, the implementation of an X.400 backbone network of message servers to link these will invariably be the preferable solution. There will be little or no loss of functionality between e-mail applications, and new, message-enabled applications can access the backbone message servers via application program interfaces (APIs) and messaging support tools. This is an example of using X.400 products to provide additional, complementary functionality not available with the installed proprietary application products. Route400 message server products excel as backbone nodes.
X.400-compatible products throughout
Where a new e-mail or messaging application is needed - perhaps because the existing one cannot be suitably upgraded, or an organisation wishes to standardise on a single software package - then it is possible to go further and to introduce not only a backbone of X.400 message servers, but X.400 message clients for e-mail and other message-enabled applications. The advantage is that all e-mail and messaging products within an organisation are based on the international X.400 standard. There are no conversions to and from proprietary formats and consequently no internal gateways. This solution offers the highest level of service.
With Route400 message server and client products, an organisation has the greatest choice of operating system platforms for both workstations and servers. Mixed platforms can coexist as desired. As all products conform to the X.400 standard, potential installation, operational and administrative problems are reduced to a minimum. The organisation achieves maximum flexibility without sacrificing any functionality. This is the comprehensive solution and Route400 products have proved their suitability for such tasks in the most challenging situations.
Transition to Route400 products
Intermediate solutions with a mix of proprietary and X.400 e-mail and messaging clients are becoming increasingly widespread. They allow an organisation to move to X.400 on a step-by-step basis and at a speed best corresponding to its individual requirements. Route400 products can be introduced non-intrusively into existing environments to provide the appropriate added functionality needed in a wide variety of situations.
Other NET-TEL white papers:
Meeting the Information Challenge
Using Messaging to Solve Business Problems
