For more than 15 years Humboldt State has used the same email system. Back in 1993, email and something called the Internet were still relatively new to most Americans. Amazon and eBay were still two years away, Google wouldn’t be around for another five and techies traded “warez” on Bulletin Board Systems (BBS). It was, essentially, the beginning of a new era in communication and connectivity.
Fast-forward to 2008 and while HSU’s email and calendaring systems are still operable, they can’t quite compete with more robust systems developed over the past few years. After realizing that current email and calendar systems were no longer adequately serving Humboldt State, ITS spent the last year looking for another option. A system named Zimbra was decided upon and will become the official email and calendaring tool for Humboldt State beginning Oct. 20.
“Zimbra was the best fit for us,” says Josh Callahan, HSU’s interim director of Telecommunications and Network Services. “It allows us to have one system for faculty, staff and students and the system is very scalable.”
In addition to Zimbra, email and calendar systems produced by Google, Mirapoint and Microsoft were considered by a sub-committee of the Information Technology Council tasked with exploring various options. ITS also worked with user groups across campus to garner feedback and help determine the best system for the University.
Zimbra will replace the current WebMail email system and also take the place of Meeting Maker, HSU’s existing calendar software. User names and passwords will remain the same and email messages will be automatically moved to the Zimbra server during the transition; calendar entries in Meeting Maker will have to be manually migrated to Zimbra. Callahan says the Zimbra interface is user-friendly and the system’s navigational tools are straightforward and easy to negotiate.
Trainings for faculty and staff began Oct. 6 and will continue through Nov. 7 and are facilitated by the Faculty Technology Solution Center. Questions about using Zimbra or specific functionality can be answered by the Help Desk at (707) 826-4357.
For more information, visit the Zimbra page on the ITS Web site.