MiChroMail

The MiChroMail Service is a unique service offered by Wireless Innovation Ltd designed specifically to support email based applications operating via dial-up connections across low earth orbit satellite networks.

The service provides a uniquely optimized method of completing a dial up call to the Internet via Low Earth Orbit satellite networks.

Rather than dialling a terrestrial Internet Service Provider to gain Internet access, the logger simply dials a dedicated network access number which is actually answered within the satellite gateway and then passed directly onto the Internet via a high speed backbone.

This service provides significant benefits as the call is immediately answered digitally within the satellite gateway equipment removing the need for lengthy modem negotiation prior to the PPP session being established.

The end user device then sends its message via email (as per usual), however the Mail Servers used to receive and forward the Emails are dedicated servers provided by Wireless Innovation Ltd to support this service.

As well as providing SMTP relay to deliver outbound Emails, the mail servers also provide a POP3 mailbox for each modem. By having dedicated mail servers used only to relay emails to/from the loggers, significant optimized mail filtering can be carried out (such as filtering by sender, subject, size, age or content) essentially allowing only valid emails destined for the device to be stored, reducing the data to be downloaded from the POP3 mailbox, and hence reducing the call times.

Unlike other ISP services, the MichMail service provides complete geographic independence, the access number is network specific rather than related to a specific country allowing the same number to be used regardless of the country in which the modem is operated.

Advantages

• Minimum possible call time.
• No handshaking delays as modem directly connects to satellite gateway using a digital bearer circuit rather than negotiating the connection speed down from 56K baud rate typically set on modems by terrestrial ISP’s.
• Connection from the satellite gateway is now a high speed TCP/IP link.
• No terrestrial PSTN connection involved in the call path.
• Exceptional SPAM filtering of mailbox, to ensure only “update” emails reach the field device or data logger.
• No setup of ISP specific parameters for each remote site, all parameters are common regardless of location where the modem is operated.

POP3 Webmail Interface

The service also provides a full Webmail interface for each POP3 account, this allows users to monitor the mailboxes and check for erroneous mails. The web based access may also be used to configure the advanced email filtering service.