Requirement analysis for next generation electronic mail systems

This paper examines the design requirements for constructing a next generation multimedia electronic mail system in contrast to existing ASCII-text mail systems. The design and implementation of such an electronic mail system are a difficult task as they require extensive use of various techniques for accommodating retrieval, indexing, query processing, user interface and storage of multimedia data. Furthermore, the issue of heterogeneity and interconnectivity must also be resolved. Careful considerations of the system have led to the design and implementation of an object-based multimedia electronic mail system on a heterogeneous environment.