Intel has announced the InBusiness eMail Station, which aims to offer professional e-mail capabilities to small businesses and workgroups.

The paperback book-size eMail Station provides LAN and Internet e-mail capabilities, including automated sending and retrieval of messages, remote dial-up, and other features.

"With the eMail Station, companies use one primary ISP account to support multiple users, saving considerable dollars and portraying a more professional image along the way," said Mark Christensen, Intel vice president and general manager of the company's network products division.

The eMail Station saves time and money by eliminating manual e-mail downloads and the need for multiple telephone lines and ISP accounts for each employee.

The eMail Station also lets employees transfer files to each other directly over the LAN instead of through dial-up accounts.

"We were spending about $250 each month on individual e-mail accounts," said Nicole Golladay-Pierce, vice president and chief financial officer of Peter Jacobsen Productions, a sports marketing agency in Oregon. "Over one year, the eMail Station will save us more than $US2000."

Users can connect the eMail Station to an ISP through either an external analog modem or through a router. It works with any POP3 mail client such as Microsoft Outlook Express or Netscape Mail.