Whilst developing the AM-X package, our feasibility study identified specific areas that the users could take advantage of. Rather than provide a simple e-mail service, we coupled several leading edge features into a comprehensive solution. The features offered are noted below.

DOMAIN NAME REGISTRATION

To be able to have an e-mail address branded with your identity, it is essential to register a domain name of your choice. AM-X takes care of this for you, subject to the chosen name being available. In the event you already own your domain name, you can still use the AM-X services.

Technically, a domain name is an addressing construct used for identifying and locating computers on the Internet. Practically though, your domain name is the core of your Internet identity, your online brand. The Domain Name System (DNS) translates your domain name into a numerical address, Internet Protocol [IP] used by the Internet.

For example, the domain name bluebox.com represents the company Bluebox [Pvt] Ltd.. When you send an e-mail to someone@bluebox.com or type bluebox.com in a web browser the Domain Name System (DNS) translates the domain name bluebox.com into an IP address used by the Internet and connects you to the computer [server] hosting bluebox.com mail server [e-mail post office] and web server [website]

Many organizations, be it a business, institute, club, family or groups of people with shared interests, find it useful to have a domain name that is the same or similar to the organization's name or it's product[s] name, enabling the organization to retain it's corporate identity and professional image in cyberspace.

In the bluebox.com, the .COM component is referred to as the Top Level Domain. There are several Top Level Domains. The .COM is the most desired because all major corporations and commercial establishments adopted it early on, and it became trendy. The following are some generic Top Level Domains that are widely used.

Ø .COM For commercial enterprises
Ø .NET For networks
Ø .ORG For organizations like the UN, Rotary, etc.
Ø .EDU For educational institutes
Ø .GOV For government institutes
Ø .BIZ For business enterprises [New]
Ø .INFO For information sites

MAIL SERVER

Sending and receiving e-mails is controlled by the Mail Sever which is a software application that runs on the Internet. These applications run continuously on the server machine [computers] that are, on all the time. It's role is similar to what the Postal Service does for ordinary post, except that it functions entirely in a computer environment. It sends, receives, sorts, distributes, forwards', e-mails and offers a host of other features including guaranteed delivery to the recipient's server or notification to the sender if not delivered, within minutes of sending, making for communication through e-mail more reliable, much faster and at very affordable prices.

AM-X provides this service by hosting an e-mail server exclusively for you. Refer to the "Mail Server features" for details.

MAIL BOXES

The mailbox specifies the specific user at the domain name to which you are sending e-mail. There can be an unlimited number of mailboxes associated with a domain name, allowing for the creation of an unlimited number of e-mail addresses at any domain name.

AM-X can provide an unlimited number of mailboxes for a domain. The basic AM-X packages are available with upto twelve mailboxes. Additional mailboxes can be purchased on request.

ACCESS

In today's technology there are only 3 ways of accessing e-mail over the Internet through the Mail Server. One is by using a Mail Client [Example Outlook Express or Eudora] that is installed in your computer the other is a Web Mail service, which is accessible from any browser [Example Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator] on your computer, or using a mobile phone using WAP technology.

AM-X offers you all three of them.

a Mail Client

The Mail Client is a software application installed on the users computer to send and receive e-mails to / from the users Mail Server. It is also called an E-mail program [Examples, Microsoft Outlook Express, Eudora]. When your Mail Client sends an e-mail from your computer, it sends it to your Mail Server. This is synonymous with dropping a letter in the post box at your local Post Office. Your Mail Server or Post Office ensures that the e-mail [letter] is delivered to the recipient's Mail Server [the recipient's local Post Office] and uses what is called Simple Mail Transfer Protocol [SMTP] to deliver the mail, and places it in the recipient's mail box, where it stays until his/her Mail Client picks it up. When the recipient's Mail Client checks his/her mail, it uses what is called Post Office Protocol Version 3 [POP3] to pick up the mail from the recipient's Mail Server and moves it to the recipient's PC. Mail Clients come fitted with several features, including -

ü It shows you a list of all of the messages in your mailbox by displaying the message headers. The header shows you who sent the mail, the subject of the mail and may also show the time and date of the message and the message size.
ü It lets you select a message header and read the body of the e-mail message.
ü It lets you create new messages and send them. You type in the e-mail address of the recipient and the subject for the message, and then type the body of the message.
ü Most e-mail clients also let you add attachments to messages you send and save the attachments from messages you receive.

Sophisticated e-mail clients may have all sorts of bells and whistles, but at the core, this is all that an e-mail client does.

b Web Based - Global Access

The solution has been tailor-made to your travel expectations. AM-X's leading feature is its accessibility via the World Wide Web. No matter where you are, your e-mail can be downloaded through the Internet.

Web based e-mail is electronic mail that can be sent and received from a Web site on the Internet, using a Web browser [like Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator], rather than using an e-mail program [such as Outlook Express or Eudora]. The advantage of Web-based e-mail is that it can be retrieved and sent from any computer with an Internet connection, whereas traditional e-mail programs [Mail Clients] must be configured on a specific computer to send and receive mail to / from a particular e-mail address.

The Web-based e-mail is newer and has a distinct advantage. You can get your e-mail from any browser. That means you can go to a computer anywhere in the world with access to the Web and send and receive e-mail. All you have to type in is the username and password that will be given to you when you subscribe to the service.

AM-X makes security a number one priority. AM-X's e-mail Service utilizes state-of-the-art security measures in its mail system architecture. Mail stored on our e-mail servers is accessible only by you and protected by a secret password you select. If you log into AM-X's e-mail Service from a public terminal, you can choose to have your pages expired so nobody can look at your past e-mail sessions. With AM-X Web-based e-mail Services, as long as you keep your mailbox name and password private, no one else will be able to gain access to your mailbox

c WAP - MOBILE

Access to the Internet is not limited to dialing your ISP from your computer and modem anymore. With the creation of Wireless Application Protocol [WAP] the Internet can be accessed through your mobile phone, if it is a WAP enabled model, and if the network you are signed up with provides WAP connectivity.

By connecting to the Internet using your WAP phone, the AM-X solution allows you to read and send e-mails, using the Web based e-mail feature. The system functions exactly as the Web based e-mail utility, except that there is no Graphical User Interface [GUI] since a web page simply does not fit on a wireless device's [Mobile Phone or PDA] display, which might be 150 by 150 pixels. Also, the majority of wireless devices use monochrome screens. Pages are harder to read when font and background colors become similar shades of gray. Navigation is another issue. You make your way through a Web site with clicks on a mouse, but if you are using a wireless device, you often use one hand to scroll keys.

WAP takes each of these limitations into account and provides a way to work with a typical wireless device [WAP enabled phone]. WAP services are offered in Sri Lanka and by most cellular networks worldwide. If you have a roaming phone you can access all your e-mails whilst traveling, from your mobile phone.

5 FREE WEB PAGE DESIGN

For organizations and individuals alike, the need for an Internet presence has never been more important. In a global economy, the Internet has proved to be lucrative and exposes your business at a click of a button, and for an individual, your chance to get 'cyber-exposure'.

When you subscribe to AM-X you get a lot. We will design and create a web page of your liking, free of charge. The format is flexible, and the sole aim of using the web page, will be to promote and market your businesses. The web page can be developed into a website, with extra pages and added features at a nominal charge.

For example, should John Simpson want to promote Blubox [Pvt] Ltd on a single web page, and if his registered domain name is bluebox.com, then his web address or URL as it is commonly known would normally be www.bluebox.com. Should he want a web page for his extended family, residing in many countries, the family Domain would be www.simpsons.net, assuming that the family registered domain name is simpson.net.

6 FREE WEB SITE HOSTING

Having developed a successful web page / site it is necessary that it be housed, or in more technical jargon hosted, on a web server so that it can be viewed on the Internet. The web server is typically located in a Web hosting company's premises, which provides all the necessary software and support to permanently connect the web server and therefore the web page / site to the Internet.

The AM-X solution provides upto 5 MB of web hosting free of charge.