For students in the School of Arts and Sciences, deliverance from the crash-prone Webmail system has finally arrived.
SAS administrators are currently enrolling students in a new e-mail service from Microsoft Corp., called Penn Live.
After picking Microsoft to provide the alternative e-mail service in April, University officials worked with the company to set up the accounts and are now are sending out invitations to around 500 students per day to ensure a smooth transition to the system, said SAS Vice Dean of Administration and Finance Ramin Sedehi.
"We started sending out announcements two weeks ago with links so students can create accounts, but we're doing it in phases so we can deal with any problems or issues when they come up," Sedehi added.
Penn Live, which allows students to store up to 2 gigabytes in their e-mail accounts, will also provide for photo and file sharing.
"Right now, we're focusing on three features: calendars, contacts and e-mail," Sedehi said. "Once they are successfully implemented, we will shift our focus to other capabilities, but the entire system is up and ready now."
Microsoft's multiple "redundant servers" will also ensure that Penn Live won't crash as much as its predecessor, which was notorious for breaking down, Sedehi added.
"It's being hosted by Microsoft, which also hosts lots of other people," he said. "If one server goes down, there will be many back-up servers, so students are going to see much less downtime with their e-mail accounts."
Enrollment in Penn Live will not be required, and students can opt to use their SAS Webmail account or have their e-mails forwarded to another address, like Gmail.
"It's going to be a better e-mail system, and we're very excited," Sedehi said. "But our main goal is to give students more choice."
Previous talks to outsource e-mail to Google broke down last semester, as the company and Penn couldn't reach an agreement on services.
- Ashwin Shandilya
