Easing email in-box overload

A communications software company says it will introduce a new product for Microsoft's Exchange messaging server that will help email users manage the volume of messages that flood their in-boxes each month.

GFI Fax and Voice says its Emailrobot software will help overwhelmed email users store their messages in databases that can then be archived or used to automate certain standard tasks such as sending bills or invoices.

The server-based tool, scheduled to hit the market in November, controls functions such as redirecting, replying, archiving, and tracking and reporting the flow of thousands of messages passing through the server.

With Emailrobot, a company can better use email by, for instance, interacting with a database and automatically sending reminders to customers with outstanding balances, according to GFI.

Emailrobot will run as an add-on to simple mail transfer protocol (SMTP) mail servers or Microsoft's popular Exchange Server. It costs $349 and features menu-driven "wizards" as well as programming capabilities using VBscript.