Spring Break
Western switching e-mail
Katrina Best
Issue date: 10/19/07 Section: News
- Page 1 of 1
Webmail will soon be scrapped in favor of Zimbra 5.0 Collaboration Suite for all students and faculty of Western Illinois University. The switch is set to take place late spring or early summer 2008.
"We have lots of neat ideas, but we first have to get everyone on it before we start playing with our new ideas," said Senior UNIX Specialist and University Computer Support Services employee Fred Seaton.
The main reason for the switch to Zimbra is the unified calendar system. Western Webmail is set up with multiple calendar systems. With Zimbra, students and faculty will be able to add appointments and look at each other's calendars to ensure they marked the appointment down as well.
The new version of Zimbra, which is what UCSS is waiting on, will include many other features not offered through the current e-mail system.
Zimbra offers the ability to read e-mail on a phone or PDA.
"Users with (newer) PDAs will have access to e-mail on their phones and will be able to add dates to their Web calendars from wherever they are," said LAN Systems Specialist Matthew Clark.
Zimbra will include an instant messenger that will be compatible with Yahoo's instant messenger and Hotmail's instant messenger.
It will also provide more space compared to Webmail. Currently, students have 300 megabytes of storage. Zimbra will offer one gigabyte, a 70 percent increase.
The new system can be accessed using the same password and login name as Webmail. Once inside, the screen is divided in half. The top half is the inbox, while the bottom half displays the most recent e-mail message. However, that setting can be changed if the user wishes.
"We hope to give added benefits to students in our new e-mail system, similar to Yahoo and Hotmail," Clark said.
UCSS will do all the switching for students and will notify them once it is complete. Zimbra is compatible with Macintosh, Windows and Linux operating systems.
"We have lots of neat ideas, but we first have to get everyone on it before we start playing with our new ideas," said Senior UNIX Specialist and University Computer Support Services employee Fred Seaton.
The main reason for the switch to Zimbra is the unified calendar system. Western Webmail is set up with multiple calendar systems. With Zimbra, students and faculty will be able to add appointments and look at each other's calendars to ensure they marked the appointment down as well.
The new version of Zimbra, which is what UCSS is waiting on, will include many other features not offered through the current e-mail system.
Zimbra offers the ability to read e-mail on a phone or PDA.
"Users with (newer) PDAs will have access to e-mail on their phones and will be able to add dates to their Web calendars from wherever they are," said LAN Systems Specialist Matthew Clark.
Zimbra will include an instant messenger that will be compatible with Yahoo's instant messenger and Hotmail's instant messenger.
It will also provide more space compared to Webmail. Currently, students have 300 megabytes of storage. Zimbra will offer one gigabyte, a 70 percent increase.
The new system can be accessed using the same password and login name as Webmail. Once inside, the screen is divided in half. The top half is the inbox, while the bottom half displays the most recent e-mail message. However, that setting can be changed if the user wishes.
"We hope to give added benefits to students in our new e-mail system, similar to Yahoo and Hotmail," Clark said.
UCSS will do all the switching for students and will notify them once it is complete. Zimbra is compatible with Macintosh, Windows and Linux operating systems.
Viewing Comments 1 - 2 of 2
Jackie
posted 10/19/07 @ 8:22 PM CST
Will this new e-mail be accessible to alumni as webmail is?
chris brown
posted 10/22/07 @ 12:48 PM CST
Will we be able to telnet into our accounts the same way we are able to now, or will i lose the ability for telnet?
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