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Message Handling Service: Definition, How It Works, and How It Differs From Email

A message handling service is a communications service delivered through a message handling system, commonly using store-and-forward exchange. Here is how the service differs from the system and how it relates to Internet email.
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A message handling service (MHS service) is a communications service provided through message handling systems. In ITU-T Recommendation F.400/X.400, interpersonal messaging and message transfer are examples. The service lets users exchange messages on a store-and-forward basis, so delivery does not require sender and recipient to be online and communicating at the same time.

What does “message handling service” mean?

ITU-T Recommendation F.400/X.400 defines a message handling service as a “service provided by the means of message handling systems.” It gives interpersonal messaging service and message transfer service as examples. The definition appears in Annex A, definition A.57, of the June 1999 recommendation: ITU-T Recommendation F.400/X.400.

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The key distinction is that a service is what users receive, while the message handling system (MHS) is the functional system that conveys information objects between parties. ITU-T describes message handling as integrating message transfer and message storage. See the recommendation’s system and service overview.

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How does a message handling service work?

In the store-and-forward model described by ITU-T, a user submits a message to the system; the system transfers and stores it as needed; and it makes the message available to the recipient. The sender and recipient therefore do not have to communicate in real time. This describes the service model, not a guarantee of instant delivery or a particular notification method.

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A historical X.400 deployment example illustrates the roles: distributed Message Transfer Agents relay messages to recipient User Agents, which make them available to recipients. That example comes from IETF RFC 1330, a 1992 deployment discussion; it explains an architecture and should not be read as evidence of how widely X.400 is used today.

How is an MHS service different from the MHS itself?

Term Meaning
Message handling service The communications service provided to users, such as interpersonal messaging or message transfer.
Message handling system (MHS) The functional system that conveys information objects between parties, integrating transfer and storage.

In short, the service describes what is provided; the system describes the means that provide it.

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Is a message handling service the same as email?

Not necessarily. Internet email is one useful point of comparison, but “message handling service” is a broader standards term and should not be treated as a synonym for every email product or messaging protocol.

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The IETF’s Internet Mail Architecture says the purpose of the Internet Message Handling System is to exchange an Internet message object among participants. It distinguishes the transit-handling envelope from the message content; the content has structured headers and a body that can include attachments. That account concerns Internet mail architecture rather than every service that might be called an MHS service. See RFC 5598, section 4.1.

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What should you remember about the term?

  • An MHS service is the service provided through a message handling system.
  • Interpersonal messaging and message transfer are examples in ITU-T F.400/X.400.
  • Message handling combines transfer and storage; public-service exchange is described as store-and-forward.
  • The term identifies a service model, not a particular vendor, app, or guarantee of delivery speed.

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