Last modified: Tuesday, February 5, 2008
IU partners with Google and Microsoft to expand student and alumni e-mail options
Innovative deal will offer students and graduates more choices in email service and provide enhanced suites of collaborative softwar
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Feb. 5, 2008
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Indiana University has partnered with Google and Microsoft to deliver enhanced e-mail and collaboration services to all IU students and alumni on all IU campuses.
The partnership allows IU students and alumni to access these popular commercial services while still maintaining their traditional IU e-mail addresses. Students who use these services now will be able to continue receiving mail at their IU e-mail addresses (e.g.: jdoe@iupui.edu or jdoe@iusb.edu) long into the future.
"With this decision UITS begins a new model of delivering IT services, in which the best offerings in the marketplace are blended into a suite of complementary services -- open-sourced, in-sourced and proprietary -- in order to offer the breadth and depth that meet the needs of IU students," said Laurie G. Antolovic', IU deputy CIO and finance officer.
IU faculty and students served on a team that evaluated these products over the summer.
"The companies were very cooperative and presented impressive products," sophomore Brian Davis, an IU Student Association representative on the project, said. "Throughout the process, both partners provided information to help show how their products would fit well with IU student needs."
In addition to e-mail, both services provide a diverse set of features including calendaring, instant messaging, document and spreadsheet applications, and more. They also provide large storage allocations for e-mail and documents.
"The initial feature set is rich, and the future integration potential is quite promising," noted Dennis Cromwell, IU associate vice president for enterprise infrastructure. "Students will continue to create and manage their accounts using IU's Account Management Service, and we will look to integrate e-mail and other services within the OneStart portal and Oncourse course management system," Cromwell said.
Additionally IU will continue to uphold current policies relating to student privacy. In accessing or granting access to an account, Google, Microsoft and Indiana University personnel will comply with all applicable laws and policies. Information outlining when a user's stored data may be accessed, who may access it, and what permissions are necessary before that access takes place are available in Indiana University's Information Technology Privacy Policy.
Tom Martz, president and CEO of the Indiana University Alumni Association, praised the new services.
"Our alumni want to stay connected with their alma mater and their university friends," he said. "A lifetime IU identity supports a lifetime of engagement between the university and its alumni," said Martz.
The rollout of the services will begin this semester.
For answers to frequently asked questions about the IU e-mail partnership, follow this link: https://newsinfo.iu.edu/news/page/normal/7444.html.
About Indiana University
IU is one of the oldest state universities in the Midwest and also one of the largest universities in the United States, with more than 110,000 students, faculty and staff on eight campuses. IU has a national reputation in the areas of information technology and advanced networking.
