E-mail Solutions Via Inmarsat Mini-M?

Tim Economides asks: "I am a computer consultant working for an NGO (Non-Government Organization) in Afghanistan, which is looking for a satellite phone e-mail solution. Since there is no communications backbone in this country, all communication must be done by satellite phone or HF radio. We have been using an e-mail service called Automail for the last year and a half, but their rates are ridiculous. Does anyone have any suggestions of other e-mail providers that work over Inmarsat Mini-M? There was an article on /. in June which was similar, but had no actual suggestions of useful e-mail services for use via Inmarsat Mini-M. Any help would be awesome."

We have a sloution

[steinmb]

Stripping and compressing the W-mail before sending it by Inmarsat A/B/C/mM/, GSM or other sat.sytem. Using regular Z-modem protocol for transfer and a local mailserver on client computer allowing you to use your favorite mail client. Check it out: http://www.dualog.com

What kind of link?

[jbert]

I don't know of anything 'off the shelf' but there is a lot of technology you could use to help you.

What kind of link do you get over these satellites? Can you do IP? A mock 'serial line'? 'File transfer'?

If you are happy to have a crack at some configuration, you could check out any Mail Transfer Agent (MTA) with a 'uucp' interface (e.g. sendmail).

This oft-neglected means of transport requires only the ability to transfer files 'by some means' and includes goodies like compression. It is the source of those beautifully archaic 'user!serverA!serverB' type addresses (but you can get around that if you don't like it).

So...if you have the flexibilty, run a 'server class unix' (e.g. Linux) and a sendmail (or an equivalent which supports UUCP), buy the relevant O'Reilly book and you are away.

If you want/need windows compatibility then there is a reasonable chance of digging up some old Windows implementations (uucp may stand for 'unix to unix copy' but the protocol was implemented on various platforms).

Good luck, reply here if you'd like more info and I'll mail you.