· When the message arrives at the recipient’s SMTP server, it is transferred to a Post Office Protocol (POP), Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP), or Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) mail server (such as Hotmail), which holds the message until the recipient requests it.
· When your recipient logs on to the Internet, opens his or her e-mail program, and checks for new mail, the message is downloaded to the recipient’s computer. Although this process sounds very involved, and technically it is, it can happen very quickly. We live in the United States and exchange messages with a colleague in Greece in a matter of minutes.
One exception to the process outlined earlier is America Online (AOL), the largest ISP in the United States. AOL uses proprietary protocols instead of the SMTP and POP protocols and then uses a gateway to translate the proprietary protocols into the standard e-mail protocols so that AOL users and users of standard e-mail programs can communicate. (A gateway is simply a software device that both transfers and converts information that originates from systems using different communication protocols, or rules.)
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