Re: Email messages: How large is too large?

[Richard Shockey <rshockey at ix.netcom.com>]

At 05:44 PM 12/13/1999 -0700, Vernon Schryver wrote:
> > From: Richard Shockey <rshockey at ix.netcom.com>
>
> > ...
> > The simple fact is that E-Mail attachments are only going to get bigger 
> and
> > more frequent, for no other reason than RFC2305 and RFC2532 The Internet
> > Fax standards that use SMTP. ...
>
> I don't understand that reasoning.  Don't classic fax machines use a rather
> low rate, less than 28 kbit/sec?  9600 bit/sec sounds right, but I'm
> probably wrong.

Well classic analog fax supports a number of bit/sec rates methods up to 
and now including 33.6 as well as higher resolution and jpeg color..if you 
look at the ITU specs.


> Isn't the Internet fax protocol intended to be used not
> only over T3's, but also over SMTP/TCP/IP/PPP/v.34 modems?  I

Pure SMPT see RFC 2305. MIME content types defined by RFC 2301. There is 
work in the ITU to tunnel classic T.30 frame data over H.323 defined as 
T.38 but that is another issue.


> f so, and
> unless Internet FAX switches to an amazingly bad encoding, most Internet
> FAX's will not be much larger than they are now.  How often does your
> current old FAX machine spend an hour receiving a single FAX?  One hour
> at 28 kbit/sec is less than 13 MByte.  Thus, it seems unlikely that RFC
> 2305 and RFC 2532 will stress the current de facto limits on SMTP message
> sizes.

Maybe...but how many fax/voice mail messages do you receive in a day? The 
IFAX    machines are either on the market or will be available in a fine 
store near you so it is reasonable to assume that the current common 5M 
limit on many email boxes will be exceeded on a regular basis.

My fax machine ( server ) doesn't spend a hour receiving a fax..but I do 
know lawyers and investment bankers fax machines where 100 -200 page fax 
transmissions are normal and a every day occurrence.

Add color to those transactions and the file size increases by 1 or more 
orders of magnitude.

RE the stress on SMTP ... face it its not just fax that is being delivered 
on email its voice mail too. See the VPIM WG specs. This is Universal 
Messaging. The ISP community simply had better get used to the applications 
that are being delivered here.

Current recommendations from Gartner, Giga and other independent IT 
consulting firms are recommending 75meg plus storage per client mail box.

Deliver the storage or lose the business...my strong recommendation to the 
ISP community...but Keith Moore's points are well taken. Users should have 
choice ... if I am unwilling to accept such large file size transactions 
then I should be able to "advertise" that fact using what ever comes out of 
the RESCAP WG.


>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Richard Shockey
Shockey Consulting LLC
8045 Big Bend Blvd. Suite 110
St. Louis, MO 63119
Voice 314.918.9020
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