Internet Message Access Protocol

IMAP

Today it is common for professionals to want to check their mail from home, from the office, from their cell phones, from a hotel room, or even from an airplane. With only client side mailbox management, using POP to read mail from multiple sites is a nightmare.

IMAP addresses this issue and several other weaknesses of the POP protocol. Since messages are actually stored on a remote server with IMAP, mail may be accessed from multiple computers while still maintaining all mail in a central location.

It also allows multiple clients to access the same mailbox or a user to create and maintain multiple mailboxes.

Optional TCP-IP Protocol