Stories about: Messaging Online

This one can back up to Lotus cc:Mail vs. Microsoft Mail, two early e-mail systems finding their way in a new world called LAN-based communications. While cc:Mail had a devout and passionate following, which formed an angry mob at their annual user conference when the death of the product was announced, the real arguments didn't start until Notes and Exchange emerged from the ashes.

A Look at the all time greatest controversies in the history of the networking industry.

The number of electronic mailboxes in use globally has ballooned to more than 891 million, and for the first time in history more of them are outside the US than inside it, according to a recent study.

When the CEO of the giant 7-Eleven Inc. convenience store chain recently began using e-mail for high-level, strategic business negotiations with external parties, he was worried about security. His IT staff was directed to find a way to protect the mail from hijackers as it leaves the safe confines of the LAN to travel the treacherous frontier of the Internet.

Experts have long contended that encrypted e-mail can become an everyday occurrence only when end users need only push a button to securely send messages.

The association that guided electronic messaging through its formative years and helped turn it into a business staple is now struggling for survival and trying to redefine itself.

The theory of UM (unified messaging) has been tossed around for many years as a way to combine voice, fax, and e-mail communication in one centralized mailbox. But with growing demand for access from increasingly mobile employees, enterprise companies are beginning to cast a more serious eye on the technology.

Outsourcing of corporate messaging services appears to be picking up steam, but few companies are committing their entire infrastructure to outsourcing, according to a new survey. A study by Creative Networks in the US shows outsourcing of e-mail services among the companies that make up the elite Fortune 500 and Forbes 100 list is up nearly 14 per cent in the first quarter of this year compared to the last two quarters of 1999.

Outsourcing of corporate messaging services appears to be picking up steam, but few companies are committing their entire infrastructure to outsourcing, according to a new survey.

Now that most enterprises appear to have dispatched the Y2K bug, they may want to concentrate on a couple of other pesky critters that have the potential to chew through the storage resources and bandwidth dedicated to corporate e-mail.

LOTUSPHERE 2000 once again finds Lotus in the midst of critical changes. The company must not only address its changing management, but also clarify the path ahead for its knowledge management and collaboration products, as well as Notes and Domino.