UNC students will soon have the option of using a Microsoft-based e-mail platform that has been described as faster, more spacious and more dynamic than UNC Webmail.

The Microsoft platform, Live@edu, will offer an array of new features and 250 times more storage space compared to the current UNC Webmail, said Max Beckman-Harned, co-chairman of the technology and web services committee of student government, in an e-mail.

One of the features, SkyDrive, will offer 25 gigabytes of online storage where students can store photos, documents and music.

“Compared to the current e-mail service, it’s vastly superior,” said Larry Conrad, UNC’s chief information officer and vice chancellor for information technology.

Another feature, titled Exchange, is a calendar system that will allow students to view the appointments and obligations of other students and faculty members.

“It makes planning group meetings much easier,” Beckman-Harned wrote in an e-mail.

“Imagine if you had to meet with a group from class or a group of friends — instead of e-mailing them and asking, ‘Hey, when are you free?’ and going through 10 iterations of ‘What about this time? Nope, that doesn’t work for me,’ you can type in everyone’s name and the software will automatically pinpoint when a good time to meet would be.”

Another feature, Office Web Apps, allows users to store, edit and share documents online.

“It’s Office, but in your browser,” Beckman-Harned wrote in the e-mail. “Unlike Google Apps, all the formatting of your documents looks exactly like it does in Office, and with one button you can move the document into Office and edit it. Then when you save, it gets moved back to the Web.”

The executive branch officers of former Student Body President Jasmin Jones’ administration sent their official recommendation for the Microsoft platform to Information Technology Services on April 1.

The executive branch officers and members of the student technology advisory board had also considered outsourcing of student e-mail to Google Apps Education Edition, which offers similar calendar and storage services to those from Microsoft.

They decided on Microsoft because Live@edu would integrate students’ calendars with those of faculty members. Google Apps for Education would separate students and faculty.

“It would be harder with Google to provide such an integration,” Beckman-Harned wrote in the e-mail. “If students wanted to meet with faculty or staff, they couldn’t use the calendar system without e-mailing and asking.”

It is unclear, however, when the new platform will be implemented. Conrad said that the contract with Microsoft is not yet finalized and that ITS will have to meet with Student Body President Hogan Medlin’s executive branch about when to launch the platform.

“Technically, it’s not all that difficult to get it started,” Conrad said. “Scheduling is the issue.”

Conrad said Live@edu is free, besides costs involving coding and maintenance that have yet to be determined.

“They’re not going to charge us on a mailbox-by-mailbox basis,” he said. “They’re not charging anything for the service. There’s coding work that needs to be done.”



Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.