SERVICES VIE TO HANDLE DIRECT E-MAIL PITCHES: PLAYERS EXPAND SURGING MARKET PROJECTED TO HIT $1 BILLION BY 2002

As e-mail becomes one of the hottest online marketing tools, the business of outsourcing it is becoming increasingly competitive.

Companies that want to ease the burden of handling the complex, yet critical, delivery of e-mail for direct marketing now have an array of e-mail management companies to tap.

This week, InfoBeat adds Forbes Digital Media and Wired Digital to a growing client roster that already includes MSNBC and American Express Co.

And InfoBeat rivals, including L-Soft International, Critical Path, the Electric Mail Co. and Revnet Systems, are busy signing up new corporate accounts. It's a market

that Forrester Research predicts will …