Chapter 10. International Data Post Brings Snail Mail to the Internet Age with iPlanet

International Data Post (IDP), a Copenhagen, Denmark-based postal technology solutions company, is taking the communications realm of postal operations to the Internet age, using Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE) technology. The company, owned by seven global postal operators, is a pioneer of “hybrid mail,” which streamlines a letter's delivery cycle by enabling electronic delivery from the sender to the post office. There—rather than at the sender's site—the document is printed, stamped, and physically delivered to the recipient. By using IDP's solution, postal organizations can grow beyond providing only communications logistics services, and add e-messaging to their repertoire. And organizations from a multitude of other industries can license the solution to capture new revenue opportunities.

IDP's hybrid mail management system, ePOST, was first developed in the late 1980s on a mixed infrastructure, of IBM mainframe computers and legacy middleware. Since then, the system has enjoyed incredible acceptance from both postal operators and corporations. In 1998 alone, IDP customers produced more than two billion hybrid mail letters.

A little over a year ago, IDP decided to extend ePOST by incorporating a front-end, Web-based access channel for the solution. Its engineers, however, lacked expertise in developing Internet-based applications. IDP consulted a half-dozen leading IT vendors to determine the type of technology and solution that would garner the most success. After talking with Sun Microsystems, the company was convinced that the total package from Sun—including J2EE technology, for its growing reputation as a highly flexible Internet application development platform—offered the most attractive option. IDP called on Sun Professional Services to architect and design the application, called WEB ePOST. WEB ePOST was developed with J2EE-compliant iPlanet Application Server and iPlanet Web Server running various Java and J2EE technology components, including Enterprise JavaBeans (EJB), Java ServerPages (JSP), Java Servlets, and Java applets.

Now, IDP customers can mail letters using a standard Web browser, saving significantly on printing, administration, and postage costs. And traditional postal operators, whose market has been under pressure from new technologies and new competitors, finally have a Web-based offering that ties into their core business and helps them exploit new markets to grow their revenues and build their businesses. Currently, several postal operators—who reach more than one billion addresses and represent more than 75 percent of the worldwide postal mail volume—have licensed WEB ePOST. As for IDP, J2EE technology has given the company a rapid application development environment that can easily be leveraged for future projects.