Messaging and Directory Server software used around the world in the Government, Military, Aviation and Commercial sectors.
Products
M-Box POP/IMAP Gateway
- Connect IMAP Clients to POP Mailboxes
- Bandwidth efficient communication over slow/expensive connections
- LEMONADE compliance to support mobile messaging
- High performance and scalability
M-Box POP/IMAP Gateway enables mail clients to access Internet Standard POP (Post Office Protocol) mailboxes using IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol). M-Box POP/IMAP Gateway is based on M-Box, Isode's IMAP and POP message store.
M-Box POP/IMAP Gateway Architecture
The back-end of the gateway accesses a POP server, the front end of the gateway is identical to that that of M-Box and provides an IMAP (and POP) interface. Messages are stored by the M-Box POP/IMAP Gateway to optimize access performance for an IMAP client. Operation is as follows:
- When the IMAP Client connects, the back-end of the M-Box POP/IMAP Gateway connects to the POP server and downloads a copy of all messages (messages are left on the POP server and are deleted only if the client deletes the message on the M-Box POP/IMAP gateway. Both servers remain in sync)
- M-Box POP/IMAP Gateway is now in a position to provide IMAP access to those messages from IMAP capable clients.
- While the IMAP connection remains open, the M-Box POP/IMAP Gateway back-end will poll the POP server (at configurable intervals) to retrieve new messages.
- The M-Box POP/IMAP Gateway can notify the IMAP client when new email messages arrive using the IMAP IDLE command.
- Continued synchronisation between the POP/IMAP Gateway and the backend POP servers means that messages marked for deletion 'on the server' are deleted from both the POP/IMAP Gateway and the backend POP server.
Deployment Targets
M-Box POP/IMAP Gateway is primarily intended for use by service providers providing a mobile or IMAP email service. There are two deployment models, described below.
Deployment Model 1: Mobile Users with POP-only accounts
POP is the most widely used open standard message access protocol, and many users have mailboxes which only support POP access. POP is not an efficient access protocol in situations where slow and/or expensive network connections are used (as in access over a mobile network as illustrated by our whitepaper on Accessing POP servers from mobile devices).
The M-Box POP/IMAP Gateway allows users to access their POP mailboxes using the more efficient IMAP protocol and be notified of the arrival of new messages using the IMAP IDLE command without having to initiate a check for new messages as would be the case with POP.
Deployment Model 2: LEMONADE Clients without LEMONADE servers
LEMONADE is the open standard for Mobile messaging. It has a client/server architecture and can operate directly to the user’s mail server. However, in many cases the server will not support IMAP or will support IMAP, but not the LEMONADE extensions. Most mail servers support POP3 access. Because of this, M-Box POP/IMAP Gateway can be used as a general purpose LEMONADE gateway to any email server.
Performance
M-Box POP/IMAP Gateway is designed with a multi-threaded architecture that can support thousands of simultaneous connections.
Configuration Management
Because it operates in gateway mode, and only obtains messages from a POP back-end, configuration of M-Box POP/IMAP Gateway is extremely simple. Configuration management is done using the Web interface provided by Isode's Internet Messaging Administrator (IMA).
Operational Management
M-Box Gateway has the same operational management capabilities as M-Box, including SNMP monitoring of gateway status and both IMAP and POP connections.
Authentication & Security
Authentication is provided using SASL and data confidentiality using TLS. M-Box POP/IMAP Gateway passes authentication requests to the back-end POP server, and so does not require you to directly manage authentication configuration. TLS is supported for both IMAP connections to the gateway and for POP connections to the back-end server.
Internet Mail Conformance
See the M-Box product page for conformance information.
Availability
M-Box is available on Linux, Solaris and Windows. Details on supported platforms and versions can be found here.
