Spring Break
LTS unveils new user-friendly e-mail system starting in June
by Miranda Neubauer
Senior Writer
News | 5/20/08
Posted online at 7:43 PM EST on 5/19/08
/ Last updated at 7:36 AM EST on 5/19/08
Over the summer, Library and Technology Services will undertake the largest overhaul of the University e-mail network in nine years with the purchase of the open-source software Zimbra according to Director of Networks and Systems John Turner.
The new system will replace the current e-mail client IMP, based on the software Horde, he said.
"The webmail system today is terrible," Turner said. "In fact, it is such a resource hog that we explicitly tell people not to use our webmail as their primary interface," he added. LTS will be promoting the new system for use as a primary interface, Turner explained.
The new program, which LTS has dubbed Bmail, will include many new features, most importantly an improved webmail interface, Turner said.
The software also offers an integrated address book and calendar system among other functions, he said. Yahoo uses the Zimbra software for its Web-based e-mail, Turner said.
The new interface works just like a desktop e-mail client, Turner explained. "If you hit the delete key, it actually deletes a message, if you use the arrow keys it goes up and down and doesn't have to refresh the whole screen," he said.
With Zimbra, LTS is also "moving away from Oracle calendar," Turner said.
The program, used by some 800 administrative staff and students cannot relate with other calendaring systems and has not been updated recently, he said.
With the new system, everyone at Brandeis will automatically get a calendar account, Turner said. The Zimbra calendar will be compatible with the Macintosh iCal program and Google Calendar, and it will allow students to grant others to access their schedules, he explained.
Zimbra will allow users to synchronize e-mail accounts, calendars and contacts on their Treos, BlackBerries or iPhones, Turner said, meeting the requests of many senior administrators.
"Mark Collins, for example, uses a BlackBerry, and he loves it, but he has to go back to his desktop every day and clean up all of his mail because it's a one-way synchronization," meaning that e-mail deletions on the BlackBerry do not appear on the desktop computer, he explained.
The new system will replace the current e-mail client IMP, based on the software Horde, he said.
"The webmail system today is terrible," Turner said. "In fact, it is such a resource hog that we explicitly tell people not to use our webmail as their primary interface," he added. LTS will be promoting the new system for use as a primary interface, Turner explained.
The new program, which LTS has dubbed Bmail, will include many new features, most importantly an improved webmail interface, Turner said.
The software also offers an integrated address book and calendar system among other functions, he said. Yahoo uses the Zimbra software for its Web-based e-mail, Turner said.
The new interface works just like a desktop e-mail client, Turner explained. "If you hit the delete key, it actually deletes a message, if you use the arrow keys it goes up and down and doesn't have to refresh the whole screen," he said.
With Zimbra, LTS is also "moving away from Oracle calendar," Turner said.
The program, used by some 800 administrative staff and students cannot relate with other calendaring systems and has not been updated recently, he said.
With the new system, everyone at Brandeis will automatically get a calendar account, Turner said. The Zimbra calendar will be compatible with the Macintosh iCal program and Google Calendar, and it will allow students to grant others to access their schedules, he explained.
Zimbra will allow users to synchronize e-mail accounts, calendars and contacts on their Treos, BlackBerries or iPhones, Turner said, meeting the requests of many senior administrators.
"Mark Collins, for example, uses a BlackBerry, and he loves it, but he has to go back to his desktop every day and clean up all of his mail because it's a one-way synchronization," meaning that e-mail deletions on the BlackBerry do not appear on the desktop computer, he explained.
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