In a bid to provide its more than 200 000 mailbox users with a higher level of service - including voice mail and WAP technology - Internet service provider (ISP) World Online has implemented a mail suite from iPlanet E-Commerce Solutions, a Sun-Netscape Alliance.
"We were running into capacity problems with our existing entry-level mail system, but to upgrade it to a higher level would have been four times as costly as the iPlanet solution," says Bob Lafite, head of engineering at World Online.
The ISP implemented the iPlanet mail, calendaring and directory service software, which was supplied by enterprise software partner MGX, after evaluating a number of carrier grade systems. The most critical demand from World Online was the need for a system that was massively scaleable, had strong integration capabilities as well as unified messaging.
"This means a single mail service that can retrieve mail, fax and voice allowing our customers to either read faxes, SMSs and mail as well as listen to voice messages and use WAP technology all from a single mailbox."
In terms of architecture, says Lafite, World Online required a scaleable platform that could split components over multiple servers.
"Running a large single mail server is not acceptable. Our differentiator in the market is the ability to run our mail system across multiple servers, allowing us to upgrade components in a live environment. This back and forward compatibility provided by iPlanet allows us to maintain permanent server uptime while at the same testing new releases live," says Lafite.
A further benefit is that it allows World Online to dedicate certain servers to international send and receive purposes and others for domestic traffic. As a result, a far higher number of concurrent sessions can be accommodated without affecting transmission speeds.
Heightened mail management through the iPlanet directory service prevents servers from being overloaded with spam or abusive mail, a problem World Online customers will no longer experience.
To provide for future growth without affecting response times, World Online has increased capacity to 300 000 mailboxes, of which 200 000 are currently in use.
An anti-virus scanning feature integrated seamlessly into the mail system has also been installed, providing additional functionality and a source of comfort for users of the ISP.
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