Spring Break
SGA addresses e-mail changes
Ashley Schurott
Issue date: 4/6/06 Section: News
Monday's SGA Presidential Roundtable meeting focused primarily on Lotus Notes, VCU's latest e-mail system for faculty, students and administration.
Mark Willis, VCU's chief information officer for the technology office who led the open forum, told the students Lotus Notes replaced the old Mail 1 and 2 system because it was outdated. Thus, the technology office determined that VCU needed a more secure system.
There were problems with the system, he said, explaining that the old mail system experienced frequent failures including one major 13-day shutdown.
"VCU needed a more secure system - a system sorted by a vendor. Mail 1 and 2 were not. Problems had to be solved in-house," he said.
Lotus Notes, he said, provides a dual server for each user so users experience fewer outages and failures.
Still, some students prefer to use other e-mail systems.
"The Lotus Notes e-mail system and screen is too slow," said Ali Alikhani, president of VCU's PreMed Society and a Roundtable member, after the meeting. "To contact members of my organization, I use Outlook."
Willis reminded students that Lotus Notes provides services such as instant messaging, Web access and a calendar in addition to e-mail. Administrators began using Lotus Notes in 1997, he said, emphasizing that Lotus Notes has one of the highest numbers of users worldwide.
"There are a number of different ways to access mail," Willis said, identifying cell phones, the Web and Blackberries. VCU spends about $50,000 a year on Lotus Notes' software license."
Mark Willis, VCU's chief information officer for the technology office who led the open forum, told the students Lotus Notes replaced the old Mail 1 and 2 system because it was outdated. Thus, the technology office determined that VCU needed a more secure system.
There were problems with the system, he said, explaining that the old mail system experienced frequent failures including one major 13-day shutdown.
"VCU needed a more secure system - a system sorted by a vendor. Mail 1 and 2 were not. Problems had to be solved in-house," he said.
Lotus Notes, he said, provides a dual server for each user so users experience fewer outages and failures.
Still, some students prefer to use other e-mail systems.
"The Lotus Notes e-mail system and screen is too slow," said Ali Alikhani, president of VCU's PreMed Society and a Roundtable member, after the meeting. "To contact members of my organization, I use Outlook."
Willis reminded students that Lotus Notes provides services such as instant messaging, Web access and a calendar in addition to e-mail. Administrators began using Lotus Notes in 1997, he said, emphasizing that Lotus Notes has one of the highest numbers of users worldwide.
"There are a number of different ways to access mail," Willis said, identifying cell phones, the Web and Blackberries. VCU spends about $50,000 a year on Lotus Notes' software license."
