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MailFLOW

Continuation of MHS co-ordination services provided by SWITCH under the COSINE project - on behalf of DANTE
1993 - 1998 
Objective(s)
  1. To support mail routing between X.400 networks and to provide seamless interconnection with RFC-822 based networks.
  2. To provide MHS managers with necessary technical information to support international co-operation.
  3. To trace and co-ordinate the solution of international problems.
  4. Assist new networks joining the MHS community.
  5. Liaise between the MHS community and external network organisations.
Achievements The MailFLOW service offered:
 
Co-ordination:
  • Collecting and distributing information to enable participating networks to exchange X.400 messages.
  • Collecting and distributing information to enable gateways between X.400 and RFC 822 communities.
  • Verifying the correctness of routing and mapping information.
  • Analysing traffic statistics provided by participating networks.
Support:
  • A helpdesk to trace and help solving international problems.
  • An information server containing technical data to support MHS managers such as mapping and routing documents, operational procedures, reports and tools.
  • Technical support for networks that joined the coordination service.
Communication:
  • Organising meetings for X.400 managers.
  • Running a mailing list for MHS managers.
Milestones/Developments
  • Early 1993: SWITCH contracted by RARE (Operational Unit) to offer MHS co-ordination as an operational service.
  • 1994: service ran smoothly but the relevance of X.400 diminished in favour of SMTP and MIME.
  • 1995: a number of NRENs stopped using X.400.
  • 1996: MailFLOW service reduced to a core service, consisting of the provision of mapping tables, routing information and a helpdesk.
  • 1997-1998: service further slimmed down, with only seven customers remaining.
  • April 1998: DANTE took on provision of MailFLOW service in-house to the four remaining customers. 

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