e-mail

Messages sent electronically from computer to computer via network connections such as Ethernet or the Internet, or via telephone lines to a host system. Messages once sent are stored on the network or by the host system until the recipient picks them up. As well as text, messages may contain attached text files, artwork, or multimedia clips.

E-mail communications predates the Internet itself, but usage of e-mail has boomed because of the growth in computer and internet access. E-mail has become a crucial part of much business communications and marketing activity. Subscribers to an e-mail system key in messages in ordinary letter form on a personal computer, and ‘drop’ the letters into a central computer's (e-mail server's) memory bank. The recipient ‘collects’ the letter by calling up the central computer and feeding a unique password into the system. Due to the high speed of delivery, e-mail is cheaper than an equivalent telephone call or fax.