MCI Mail
MCI Mail was a commercial email service that was operated by MCI Communications Corp. (abbreviated "MCI") during the period 1983 - 2003. The service is widely credited with being the first commercial email service in the United States.
History
The MCI Mail service was launched on September 23, 1983 in Washington DC during a press conference that was hosted by MCI's founder and Chairman, William G. McGowan.
Service Offering
Access to the initial MCI Mail service was provided using a modem connected to a standard telephone land line. A user connected to the MCI Mail service was able to send a text-based email to another MCI Mail user, a telex, or a message that would be printed and delivered by the postal service.
Messages destined to postal addresses were laser printed at an MCI Mail print site, placed in an envelope and mailed via the U.S. Postal Service. The cost was $1 to $2 per page. The service was attractive because there were few affordable letter-quality laser printers available to consumers at the time. Most consumers could only afford low quality dot matrix printers, which were not suitable for business correspondence. It also saved a trip to the post office.
The service also allowed users to select overnight and 4-Hour delivery options. The 4-hour service in particular was attractive as no one offered the ability to print a document and have it delivered in this time frame. There were a number of print facilities around the U.S. which offered this service. The most popular locations were New York, Washington D.C. and Los Angeles. At one point there was a print facility in Hawaii and they also ventured into the international space with a location in Brussels, Belgium.
The hard copy delivery service was later discontinued due to the high operating cost, the increasing availability of letter-quality home printers, and the increased use of email.
Later the service offering was expanded so that users could send messages to email users on other email networks, and to fax terminals. Several email clients were developed to facilitate email handling, including Lotus Express, Norton Commander's MCI Mail utility and MailRoom from Sierra Solutions.
MCI Mail also offered gateways to faxing called Fax Dispatch(email to fax, outbound only), telex called Telex Dispatch (in and outbound), and X.400 connectivity (enabling MCI Mail users to securely exchange email with over 23 other email services around the world). Eventually, a gateway to the Internet was also provided. MCI Mail users were assigned an internet address of either their MCI Mail ID @ mcimail.com (i.e. 218-0241@mcimail.com), their user name @mcimail.com (i.e. bsmith@mcimail.com) or their formal name@mcimail.com (i.e. Bob_Smith@mcimail.com).
Additionally, MCI Mail supported gateways to local area networks by use of its REMS ("Remote Electronic Mail System") addressing. REMS addressing took the form of {display name}|REMS:{rems name}/{network mapping on the email server}. For example, Bob Smith|REMS:XYZCompany/ntserver/email/bsmith.
MCI Mail also supported read receipts, charge codes, allowing for cost accounting for email.
Access to MCI Mail was typically by dial up modem, either calling to a number of DID nationwide, a toll free number, or through overseas numbers provided by PTT (Postal Telephone/Telegraph) companies around the world.
The service was primarily sold using a third-party "agency program". Agents were paid a commission on usage. One of these agents, Gary Oppenheimer, created what is believe to be the first electronically delivered newsletter. Called the PEN (Periodic Electronic Newsletter), it was published from August 1985 until November 1996, and provided both customers and many MCI employees with information on few features avalable as well as hints and tricks for using MCI Mail. The final edition of the PEN newsletter included articles on -Concert Packet Switching Service for MCI Mail -MCI Mail Telephone update -Cellular Access to MCI Mail -Lsit of Access Cellular Numbers -Logon Procedures -X.400 Access via Frame Relay -MCI Never Busy Fax -Mailroom/Mailplus & MIME -internetMCI software -domainTNG -Newsgroups/Lists -Web Surfing via MCI Mail
MCI Mail was based on the DEC (Digital Equipment Corp.) VAX 780's with DECMAIL operating the VMS operating system.
References
- Manes, Stephen (1988). The Complete MCI Mail Handbook. New York: Bantam Books. ISBN 978-0-553-34587-2
- Chan, Wade-Hahn (February 26, 2007) "Remembering MCI Mail", Federal Computer Week - an interview with Vint Cerf and Dave Crocker
- Shannon, L. R. (November 9, 1983) "MCI Mail Changes The Nature Of Letters" The New York Times, Sec. C, p. 13