There is an entire manual on the email engine, just download it from the documentation site, if you don't have it. You do indeed need to configure it to your mail gateway and to a pop account (pop is not required). Depending on your gateway configuration, you may need a fully recognized & registered smtp address in the 'from' in order for the email to go out. Also, depending on your server configuration you may need to open up port 25 and/or turn on the simple mail protocol. Today, due to attacks, many companies are blocking and turning off everything be default. You say you are running NT? I'm aware of Email engine working with W2k and W2k3 but I don't recall NT on the list.
Please look at the manual as it tells you all the requirements.