Background
In 2011, ITS determined that enterprise‐level productivity tools such as email, file
sharing, printing, etc. had to be replaced. Novell products like Groupwise no longer
served UNB’s needs nor our growing Mac population, and the technologies supporting
these products were long past their ‘best before’ date. After extensive internal and
external consultation and review, the Microsoft Exchange platform was chosen for email
and calendaring, while Active Directory and SharePoint were selected for file sharing.
Migration
Students were moved to Live@edu, a free Microsoft cloud service providing email and
file storage, in late 2011. Staff and faculty were moved to UNB‐hosted Exchange over
the summer of 2012. While not without early technical glitches, both environments
have become reliable and economical productivity platforms, very much as expected.
These migrations have also allowed ITS to support both Windows and Mac users much
more comprehensively and reliably.
Training
End user training for Outlook email and calendaring has not been offered to staff and
faculty; the tools are pretty intuitive, and can be configured and operational for most
users in minutes. There are online tutorials, FAQs and tip sheets available; ITS also
subscribes to Lynda.com, an online training site for users looking for more in‐depth
instruction in Outlook features and tools (many other tutorials are available as well).
Individuals interested in taking a Lynda.com course should contact the ITS Helpdesk.
Future enhancements
In mid‐2013, students will be migrated to Office 365, the next generation of Live@edu,
providing more integration with Microsoft applications and services, especially cloud file
sharing which will offer far more storage space to our students than ITS ever could.
Alumni and retirees will also be migrated to this new cloud platform. At about the same
time, ITS will deploy Sharepoint, a web‐based, community‐focused toolset allowing
groups like faculties, admin units, and others to share files and collaborate on projects
and initiatives across the university. ITS will also introduce Lync, a messaging service
integrating various communication tools such as email, video, telephone, and instant
messaging into a single, unified platform enabling community members to make
contact, collaborate, and innovate much more easily than ever before.
Terry Nikkel, AVP‐ITS, February 26, 2013