Extraído do Books Online: Database Mail
To minimize the impact on SQL Server, the component that delivers e-mail runs outside of SQL Server, in a separate process. SQL Server will continue to queue e-mail messages even if the external process stops or fails. The queued messages will be sent once the outside process or SMTP server comes online.
Tecnologia do Service Broker de uso do Database Mail:
Database Mail provides background, or asynchronous, delivery. When you call sp_send_dbmail to send a message, Database Mail adds a request to a Service Broker queue. The stored procedure returns immediately. The external e-mail component receives the request and delivers the e-mail.
A entrega de e-mail real é tratada pelo seu servidor SMTP e, portanto, isso arcará com o peso da carga de trabalho e deve ser provisionado de acordo com os requisitos de tráfego de capacidade / e-mail.
Consulte Planejando o Database Mail