fredc@umrisca.tmc.edu (Fred Clauss) (10/19/90)
A while back, I posted a question over at comp.mail.multi-media asking if there were any roughly or smoothly SMTP-compatible e-mail standards which could be used in an IP-based computer network to transport/save/present multi-media (or limited media) messages. My idea was to handle the messages using readily available UNIX e-mail facilities, and to find or write stuff to transfer them to other media--to wit, telephone, bulletin-board-type, hardcopy, and even emergency paging. The response I got, if not enlightening, at least woke up that newsgroup for a couple months. The reason I am posting here is that one of the early responses mentioned that x400 was capable of everything I had mentioned. To delineate what I was looking for: my estimation of *minimum* capabilities for this service would entail transmitting, in addition to traditional SMTP mail, audio of at least telephone-quality, but preferably multi-channel high-quality (16-bit PCM with > 20kHz sampling rate), raster and/or vector graphics, and full-motion video of at least NTSC or PAL quality but preferably celluloid quality (i.e., something I can put on a big screen in a theatre without the folks in the front row seeing nothing but a bunch of big dots). Since I was hoping to implement this stuff quickly (i.e., I want it yesterday :-) and cheaply, I have no delusions about real-time delivery of the messages. I just want my e-mailer to be able to deliver and receive it, and deal with presentation issues using workstations, multi-media room hardware, or whatever. Since I am an IP-type of guy, I naturally asked my internet-type audience for standards which ride on top of IP (mostly because I value my internet access quite highly and would include it in my service), but I am not locked into using IP locally if X400 does everything I need and has a decent gateway to IP-based e-mail. So..... What about it folks, is X400 in the ballpark? If not, what of the things I just mentioned can X400 handle, and how widespread/inexpensive are x400 applications? Can I get it on just about any UNIX-type platform I want it on, or will I be extremely limited by application-software availablity (the nature of the service I am contemplating makes this issue important). Also, does ISO have anything in the pipeline that provides all of the attributes I mentioned above as preferable? How about things like formatted text (I am aware of ODA but not knowlegeable), fax, telex, remote procedure calls, data base queries, etc.? -- Fred Clauss INTERNET: fredc@isc.umr.edu (preferred) P.O. Box 815 or fredc@ee.umr.edu Rolla, MO 65401 BITNET: S081192@UMRVMA