IMAP Strategies of the Big Three

It's hard to review Internet Mail Access Protocol (IMAP) mail-server technology without considering what plans Microsoft, Lotus, and Novell have for implementing it in their enterprise mail products.

Lotus: At the Lotusphere 97 convention in January, Lotus announced that its Domino server will act as a path for converging existing cc:Mail and Notes messaging customers. Lotus outlined aggressive plans to add support for Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP), IMAP4, and Internet Calendar Access Protocol (ICAP) in its Domino server line and to simplify deployment for mail-only users. L otus will extend Domino's support for Post Office Protocol 3 (POP3), Simple Mail Transport Protocol (SMTP), and Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) messaging to cc:Mail users with cc:Mail Release 8.

Microsoft: With the release of Exchange Server 5.0, released late in 1996, Microsoft added support for LDAP, POP3, Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), and Net News Transfer Protocol (NNTP). IMAP4 support is scheduled for this year.

Novell: An update to Novell's GroupWise 5.1 should be available by the time you read this. GroupWise 5.1 is scheduled to natively support open Internet standards such as TCP/IP, HTTP, HTML, SMTP/MIME, and LDAP (client). Support for IMAP4, POP3, NNTP, Secure MIME (S/MIME), and LDAP (server) is due shortly.