The Office of Technology Integration has announced plans to upgrade all email services at FSU. Currently, there are three email services on campus supported by the University:  The Garnet server primarily used for student email, Mailer used mostly for staff, administration, and Faculty, and Admin used primarily by administration and staff.   This environment created complications for many users because they may have more than one email account with different user names.  Most universities today are adopting a strategy of a single user identity on campus where a faculty, staff, or student would retain regardless of what department or organization they belonged.   
 
Eventually FSU will adopt a philosophy and technology that will allow users to be identified by only their common FSUID with the appendix @fsu.edu.  Gone will be the days when you would need to know if you were sending the message to a Garnet, Mailer, or Admin account.  For example, ismith@mailer.fsu.edu would simply be addressed as ismith@fsu.edu.  The new email server will take advantage of Sun’s Java Enterprise System (JES) and will include the ability to integrate email with a new calendar capability through either a new Web interface or through your existing email client such as Outlook, Eudora, Thunderbird, or Netscape.    The new email system will be housed on 3 Sun Microsystems V490 machines each with 4 dual core UltraSparc IV+ processors.  These are Sun’s latest generation of 90nm processors with each having three levels of cache totaling 34MB per processor.  Each processor has 295 million transistors in a nine layer design and 32 gigabytes of memory per node.   The front-end to these new machines are Sun’s X4200 servers each with dual core Opteron 275 processors.  The power and redundancy of the new @FSU.EDU mail system will mean that users will have a reliable high speed delivery system with full backup and recovery capability.  Additionally, new users can take advantage of a more advanced and reliable spam filter.

The upgrade of email users will occur in groups with the first occurring with the Garnet users during the period between Summer B and C sessions (June 23rd and 24th).   Both Garnet and Mailer users can choose to upgrade their accounts before that time and take advantage of the new capabilities by going to the web site http://fsuid.fsu.edu and selecting the option:  Upgrade Email Account.  After selecting this option, you will be prompted for your FSUID userid and password.  After confirming your desire to upgrade your account and selecting the appropriate options, the system will place your request in a queue for processing and your new JES account will be activated within 24 hours.  All of your existing emails will be migrated to your JES FSUID@fsu.edu mailbox.  Any unread emails will be sent to your JES FSUID@fsu.edu inbox. You need do nothing else.  A message will be sent to your old account(s) with instructions on how to access the new web interface and to change your email clients to access the new services.

What happens to my old email account?  Your old Garnet or Mailer accounts are still there and active. You can still logon to those accounts.  When your accounts are first transitioned, all of the existing mail will be sent to your new FSUID@fsu.edu account on JES. 

Can I still receive mail on my old email account?  Yes.  Your Garnet and Mailer email accounts will still be valid for several years.  However, email sent to those accounts will be automatically forwarded to your new FSUID@fsu.edu.

I have both a Garnet and Mailer account with the same name. What will happen?  If you choose to upgrade your email account, emails from your Garnet and Mailer account will be sent to your new FSUID@fsu.edu account.  Both systems will automatically forward mail sent to them to your new account. You need do nothing else. 

I have a Garnet and Mailer account but with different user names. What will happen?  If you choose to upgrade your email account, emails from your Garnet and Mailer account will still be sent to your new FSUID@fsu.edu account.  The system will take care of resolving the issue with different usernames.  Both systems will automatically forward mail sent to them to your new account. You need do nothing else.

All of my email is currently forwarded to my Mailer account.  Where will my email go after I upgrade?  If your forwarding address is either your Garnet or Mailer account, forwarding will be changed to send all of your email to your new FSUID@fsu.edu account. 

All of my email is currently forwarded to another University email system or my private email address. Where will my email go after I upgrade?  We will not change this.  Email sent to your Garnet, Mailer, or FSUID@fsu.edu addresses will still be forwarded to the email address you originally specified.   You can still login into the FSUID web page and manage your email accounts as you did before.

What are the advantages of upgrading my email now?  There are several advantages: (1) You can take advantage of the new technology right away with faster and more reliable hardware. (2) With the JES environment you also get a new web interface that provides additional capability including a calendaring system that will eventually be integrated with student’s schedules.  (3) JES will also have a state-of-the-art SPAM filtering capability to reduce the amount of junk mail you receive. (4) By upgrading now, you can control when your email is transitioned rather than waiting for when all email accounts are upgraded.  (5) An increase in email storage quota.

I don’t have a Garnet account, only a Mailer account.  Can I upgrade my email now?   Yes.  Mandatory upgrades of Mailer accounts will not occur until Fall 2007.

Can calendar invites be exchanged between JES and Exchange?  Yes, they can.  Both systems will use the ICS calendar format, so invitations will go back and forth, and clients (like Outlook) will import according to their capabilities.  Outlook, e.g., handles the interchange quite cleanly.  Please note, however, that the two calendar backend systems, Exchange and JES, are not aware of each other's free/busy/availability display.

Should you have any questions during the process of upgrade, the FSU Help desk is completely familiar with the procedures and can easily help you through any problems.  Just call 644-HELP.   Guidance on how to configure your email clients and a user’s guide on the new web mail interface can be found at http://help.fsu.edu.