Novell Inc, whose UK base is in Slough, has launched an electronic mail link to IBM, DEC and other microcomputer vendors, designed to allow NetWare local area network users to transfer messages and documents to dissimilar electronic mail systems. This is done via The Coordinator, an electronic mail, word processing and scheduling system developed by Action Technologies of Emeryville, California. The Coordinator works through a new gateway called Mailbridge Server/The Coordinator, produced by Soft-Switch Inc of Wayne, Pennsylvania, and consists of communications software installed on a dedicated personal computer on the local network. This receives the mail via Novell’s Message Handling Service and automatically converts it from The Coordinator format to that of the library system on the other end. The gateway deals with two types of objects: text messages which must be converted and binary files which are transferred unchanged. Soft-Switch uses a method based on IBM’s Document Interchange Architecture, the IBM standard for linking mail systems.
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