Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!att!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!brutus.cs.uiuc.edu!wuarchive!texbell!vector!telecom-gateway From: crum%lipari.usc.edu@usc.edu (Gary L. Crum) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: AT&T Mail and the internet Message-ID:Date: 14 Aug 89 21:08:26 GMT Sender: news@vector.Dallas.TX.US Organization: University of Southern California Lines: 37 Approved: telecom-request@vector.dallas.tx.us X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@vector.dallas.tx.us X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 296, message 5 of 8 What is the relationship between AT&T Mail and the internet? By "internet", I mean the collection of computer networks that exchange information with the Internet (NSFNET backbone and regionals and other TCP/IP networks accessible at the IP level from NSFNET sites) and world UUCP network (described by comp.mail.maps postings, larger than the set of sites receiving USENET news). If there exists a two-way gateway service between the AT&T Mail Network and the world UUCP network, then I would consider AT&T Mail part of the internet (not Internet -- following the distinction between "internet" and "Internet" used by A. Tanenbaum and D. Comer in their respective books, "Computer Networks" and "Internetworking with TCP/IP"). Does anyone have a better name and description for what I am calling "the world UUCP network"? I ask about all this, because I received literature about AT&T Mail today. The literature doesn't even mention any of {NSFNET,BITNET,CSNET,UUCP, USENET}. Yet, it does mention UNIX and states "AT&T Mail lets you send messages to almost anywhere in the world through service and delivery options like MailFAX, telex, and special gateway interfaces. If there is a gateway between AT&T Mail and the "world UUCP network", then it seems that the services provided by AT&T Mail and UUNET overlap somewhat. Perhaps AT&T Mail is closer to MCI Mail. A related issue is the relationship between the world UUCP network and the TCP/IP Internet. The AT&T Mail technical representative didn't know what I meant by world UUCP network, USENET, Internet, and TCP/IP. She started talking about gateway interface products (e.g. MHS X.400) when I asked about gateways. Maybe I should have used the word "relay". Gary Crum