Auburn's OIT department has responded to the student body's cry for an improved e-mail system and plans to launch a new system using an external host, as opposed to the current Auburn-based TigerMail.
Bryan Anderson, manager of user services for OIT, said a student survey conducted by OIT last fall revealed students were interested in more e-mail space, lifetime accounts and increased support for mobile devices.
"Number one was the space issue," Anderson said. "Everyone wants bigger closets and more room for their stuff. The second most desired thing, and the reason that people did not use their Auburn e-mail account almost exclusively is simply because they knew that account would go away when they leave the University. Another thing that came out of the survey was more support for mobile devices."
While the department is considering both Gmail and Microsoft Outlook for the new system, the decision will be based on which program best meets the legal requirements through Auburn's General Accounts Office.
Either system will raise storage limit from 100 MB to 10 GB.
"When we first put up TigerMail, that was actually a pretty generous quota based on what students were getting elsewhere," Anderson said. "Fast forward seven years, and you've had the explosive growth of usage plus the free accounts that are giving you all sorts of space, so now it looks a little paltry compared to what students are used to seeing through other providers."
Ellyn Hix, director of user services for OIT, said TigerMail filters virus and spam with the program IronMail, but a hosted system will include advanced support.
"It's informative, but maybe not entirely helpful because it doesn't necessarily get it out of your way, it just tells you what it is," Hix said. "When we go to a hosted system, that e-mail will not come through that system. "
Anderson said there are around 36,000 student accounts on TigerMail.
"The way we end up with that number is we provide accounts for people who are admitted before they get here and then we allow people to keep their accounts for basically one year past their enrollment," Anderson said.
Paul Stewart, a junior in RTVF, said the main issue he has with TigerMail is the limited mobile access.
Anderson said mobile device support has become important to students as technology progresses and more and more students choose to access their e-mail from cell phones.
"It's making our system harder to support because now instead of one person and one login as they're sitting in front of a computer, that one person may have three or four logins at the same time," Anderson said. "Now, we're talking about supporting all those connections hitting the system at the same time."
Stewart said all the improvements OIT plans to make are much needed.
"It will be great to have more space," Stewart said. "My inbox fills up quickly. It'll also be good to have a lifetime e-mail account because I graduate in May and don't want to lose my account."
OIT hopes to have the system up and running this fall in time to give students accepted into Auburn for the fall 2010 semester to access an account on the new system.
"That traffic will allow us to make sure we've got everything tweaked right and ready to support the rest of the student body," Anderson said. "Then there will be an opt-in period where you can go in and switch your account from TigerMail classic to TigerMail 2, or whatever we're going to call it during that period."
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