Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Asynchronous Communications
Asynchronous modes of communication employ store-and-access forms
of information interchange. These technologies include standalone
applications such as e-mail and Wiki servers, or as components in more
complete business groupware solutions that couple functionality such as
calendaring and task management with basic messaging, threaded dis-
cussion boards and other forms of stored communication. Remote con-
sumers, interested parties, business partners, and internal users may all
make use of asynchronous communications to conduct business with an
organization—making this one of the most effective means for informa-
tion transport.
Electronic Mail
Electronic mail (e-mail) is arguably the most prevalent form of electroni-
cally mediated communication. The simplicity of its interface, durabil-
ity of the transport mechanism, and global availability has expanded the
once-simplistic means for systems administration staff to pass messages
between servers into a near-mandatory component of modern business in
a globe-spanning market. The inexpensive nature of e-mail allows busi-
nesses to use this means to contact millions of customers and interested
parties with little more effort than sending a single message.
Note:
At the time of this topic's writing, no charge is currently billed per
e-mail message except for mobile-device textual Short Message Service
(SMS) transfer charges. Many “e-mail tax” solutions continue to be exam-
ined, however, and may be imposed in the future in an attempt to limit
the volume of unsolicited “junk” e-mail (spam). If a per-message charge is
imposed at some point, the architect should have a good grasp of the vari-
ous uses of e-mail in an organization, in order to ensure that directed and
targeted transmission can be isolated from wideband e-mail distribution.
Origins of E-mail
The basic e-mail transport protocol is the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol
(SMTP). This standard is an element of the TCP/IP protocol suite that
