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ADDRESS BOOK: This image shows an address book from Zimbra's Merit
Mail e-mail system. Zimbra was chosen as the new e-mail and calendaring system that Eastern Michigan University will use. The goal is to have the new system in place for fall 2008. |
Tired of maxing out your e-mail quota? Sick of dealing with an e-mail system that's, at best, extremely limited (not to mention inflexible, antiquated and dull?)
Help is on the way.
In late March, Eastern Michigan University's E-mail Selection Committee unanimously recommended the University contract with Merit Network to move all EMU e-mail accounts to a system called Zimbra. The new system, which also is the backbone for the new Yahoo mail, features unlimited storage, easy transfer of your existing directory, an intuitive calendaring function, instant messaging, voice-over Internet and lots of flexibility to build in other collaborative functions.
The switch represents a leap in user-friendliness that Matt Evett, an EMU computer science professor and committee co-chair, said would be like going from DOS to Windows in the computer operating world.
"Personally, I'm excited that the interface is so much more modern," Evett said. "I always kind of loathed having to access my e-mail over the Web. This is going to be a much friendlier system. There are going to be no more quotas for e-mail. It'll be really nice to have a modern calendaring and scheduling system."
The Zimbra system also will be compatible with Banner. The two are already being used together at several universities, Evett said. The connection may take a little tweaking but Zimbra, in addition to being free, is open-source. Tweaking is not only allowed, it's encouraged.
"There's a large community of people constantly creating new software applications," Evett said.
The committee's proposal was approved by Chief Information Officer Connie Schaffer and the EMU Strategic Operations Council May 5. The plan is to have all e-mail accounts on the new system by the beginning of the fall 2008 semester.
Eastern Michigan will pay Merit $75,000 a year to run, maintain, equip and provide support for the e-mail system, a significant savings over what the University's paying to run its current system, said Rocky Jenkins, EMU's network and systems services director, and the committee's other co-chair. Funding will come out of the same budget that was paying for the current system, which means the switch can be made without needing approval from the Board of Regents, he said.
"At this point, it's a doable, achievable goal," Jenkins said. "If we let too much time slip, that changes. The projected time (to switch over) is 90 days, total."
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A LITTLE REMINDER: This image shows the Zimbra
calendaring system with a pop-up feature that serves as
a reminder for one's latest appointment. This intuitive
calendaring function is one of a number of Zimbra
features, including instant messaging, voice-over
Internet and unlimited e-mail storage. |
The committee's report also recommends EMU develop policies to cover e-mail privacy and access, archiving, e-mail as official university communication and alumni accounts.
The search for a new e-mail system began in November 2007. An ICT subcommittee narrowed the field to five candidates — Windows Live, Google Apps for Education (Gmail), Merit Mail (Zimbra), Novell GroupWise and Microsoft Exchange. From there, the committee, which included about 30 members from all facets of the university, identified a top two — Gmail and Zimbra. Unlimited storage and compatibility with existing directories were major reasons Zimbra got the nod. Google also wanted to include Adwords advertising on faculty, staff and alumni accounts, while Zimbra offered complete control over the look of the interface.
Zimbra can be customized to look and work like Microsoft Exchange, which is a popular e-mail system for some users. It also works seamlessly with Outlook and other popular e-mail clients. The new e-mail system will provide stable, new software running on new hardware, will drastically reduce the chance of a major, system-wide crash like the one that occurred last fall at EMU.
The committee chose to contract with Merit for support — the only expense aside from possibly some hardware and servers — because members were more comfortable working with an organization with such deep roots in higher education. EMU also is a member of Merit, which was created in 1966 to design the computer network between Michigan's public universities.
"EMU has a long history of collaboration with Merit," Evett said. "They've been serving Michigan universities for a long time now, and they've demonstrated a track record of providing good support to their clients."
Stay tuned to FOCUS EMU throughout the summer for further updates on the implementation plan for the Zimbra e-mail and calendaring system.
