Developing Internet software: AltaVista Mail

Vol. 9 No. 2 1997 33 In late 1993, the Mail Interchange Group (MIG) within DIGITAL started the AltaVista Mail development program. At that time, the members of MIG had substantial experience in the development of electronic mail (e-mail) technologies; however, the new products were being targeted for use on the Internet in an environment that was quite different from the one for their previous products. In an effort to satisfy the new customer base, the members of MIG reexamined their design and development process. The AltaVista Mail product emerged from efforts to improve MIG’s support for Internet-based e-mail technologies. Our previous products were electronic mail and directory servers for network backbone use, based on the most recent X.400 and X.500 standards. Products suitable for the Internet environment would clearly be quite different. This paper begins by presenting our analysis of Internet services and support software and describing the transmission of e-mail on the Internet. The paper then discusses the implications of developing a product for the Internet environment and explains the impact of those implications on the design and implementation decisions that defined the AltaVista Mail product. The paper concludes with the engineering assumptions and habits that had to be overturned to build the product set.