In Exchange Server 5.5, I had to use the Internet Mail Service (IMS) to exchange mail with Internet hosts. In Exchange 2000 Server, if I don't change any default configuration settings, SMTP works fine. Why would I want to set up an SMTP connector?
Exchange 2000 uses SMTP as its core transport protocol. Assuming that you've set up TCP/IP and DNS properly and that you supply the right domain name to Exchange 2000, Exchange 2000 will happily send and receive SMTP mail without any special effort on your part because it installs the SMTP virtual server component by default. So why would you bother with an SMTP connector when the default configuration seems to work so well? The SMTP connector lets you set up separate connectors for separate address spaces and designate individual servers in a routing group as bridgeheads. This configuration is similar to what many large sites did with the Exchange 5.5 IMS. Setting up an SMTP bridgehead at the edge of your network lets you concentrate traffic into one server for archiving, content or virus scanning, and flow control. . . .
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Imran March 17, 2004