Background 2008: E-Mail @ Lamar University

• Lamar University lacked a single unified communications solution for all students, faculty and staff.

• Four inherited mail solutions: My Lamar (Luminis Mail), Exchange, Computer Science E-Mail and Electrical Engineering E-Mail.

Risk Assessment

• LU email was fractured, fragmented and fragile. Not only providing sub-standard service, but was also leaving students, faculty and staff without e-mail in times of natural disasters, and representing a serious security risk at all times.

My.Lamar E-Mail

Fragmented

Fractured

Fragile

Current Students

Faculty/Staff ?

Limited Mailbox

Size

Limited Attachment

SizeCrashes often

20 year old

technology

Upgrade Luminis Mail?

• My.Lamar Mail ran on a poorly implemented (legacy) system.

• “Doing it over the right way” would have cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.

• Luminis Mail was End of Life: SGHE was no longer offering Luminis Mail with Luminis 5.

LU Exchange

Under Sized

Under Scoped

Not Redundant

No Offsite

NOT All Faculty/Staff

Limited Attachment

Size

Limited Mailbox

Size

Cost of Upgrading Exchange?

• A highly-available, redundant Exchange system that would work during natural disasters and serve all students, faculty and staff would have cost approximately $750,000 to implement properly.

Outsource With Google or Microsoft?

• Lack of Service Level Agreements: G-mail is all the rage, but good luck if it stops working.

• “Bleeding Edge” Technology: Microsoft option for faculty/staff mail launched a few weeks ago. G-Mail is Still in “Beta.”

• Loss of Control: With Microsoft or G-mail your mail could be geographically anywhere in the world.

Hosted Option: MeritMail• Merit is a non-profit higher ed consortium.• Offers a hosted mail service with a service

level agreement geared to higher education.• With Merit, Lamar University maintained

control:– University e-mail stayed in the USA.– Because the software (Zimbra) is open

source, the University could bring mail back in house in the future.

MeritMail Pilot at Lamar University

• Allowed LU to stay on Outlook and add Blackberry support.

• Web interface is fully featured & easy to use.• ITS pilot of MeritMail proved extremely

successful. Works on Windows, Mac & Linux.

MeritMail SolutionScalable

Redundant

Unified

Unlimited Mailbox Size

50-100MB Attachment Size

HighAvailability

BackedUp

Works in a Hurricane

How Much Would You Pay Per Student Mailbox

Per Year?• $100? $50? $25? $10?• How about $5 per student per year?• Upgrading existing Exchange server to

handle all students would have cost at least five times as much per student per year (with less functionality).

On-Going Costs: Exchange vs. Merit

• Total on-going cost for upgraded Exchange mail system at Lamar University estimated at more than a million dollars over three years.

• Total on-going cost for MeritMail solution projected to be one-third as much over three years.

Implementation Costs: MeritMail vs. Exchange

• Cost to implement MeritMail: $30,000.

• Cost to implement Exchange: $750,000.

In Summary• MeritMail is a proven and cost-

effective solution that reduces demonstrated risk and provides first rate service via a unified communications platform at an affordable price point for higher education.

Recommendation & Outcome

• ITS recommended that LU move all student/faculty/staff mail to MeritMail as quickly as possible before the next hurricane could strike.

• President and Executive Council approved MeritMail deployment.

• MeritMail successfully deployed by LU ITS in collaboration with MERIT staff.