Communication and Collaboration Tools Announcement

August 5, 2010

To All Dartmouth Students, Faculty and Staff:

We are pleased to announce the selection of Microsoft Online Services as Dartmouth’s primary service for email, calendar, and collaboration tools.

Microsoft Online Services also provides document sharing, video and web conferencing, and 10GB of storage for each user. Microsoft’s strong commitment to privacy for users and information security for the institution was a key factor in the decision to select Microsoft over Google and other services.

The new Microsoft service will replace Dartmouth’s “BlitzMail” email system. Although once highly innovative and beloved by many, it is more than 20 years old and no longer meets our needs. We know that Google and its various applications have many supporters. Yet, after careful evaluation, we have decided that Microsoft offers the most secure and best integrated service on the market today. We are confident that it is a robust solution that will allow us to provide modern and protected service to our community.

Transition Plans: The Microsoft Online Services system will be offered to undergraduates, graduate students, faculty, schools and centers, administrators and staff. To get the most out of the new official Dartmouth calendar application, we encourage everyone to use the Microsoft calendar as it becomes available. Unfortunately, the Microsoft and Google calendar applications do not integrate with each other.

Our goal is full implementation by the beginning of calendar year 2012. The roll-out plan is as follows:

• Students: The transition will be gradual. Those graduating in 2011 will continue to use BlitzMail rather than Microsoft Online Services. Students in the graduating classes of 2012, 2013, and 2014 will make the transition through the summer and fall of 2011. Incoming students in the Class of 2015 will be given Microsoft Online Services accounts in late spring of 2011.
• Faculty: Mailboxes will be transferred to Microsoft Online Services over a period of time in the second half of 2011. Because BlitzMail will disappear later in 2012, faculty who use it will have to choose a different email client. Choices include Outlook (the desktop software) or one of the other popular clients such as Thunderbird or Apple Mail. The option of forwarding Dartmouth email to Gmail or other email providers will remain in place. For those who currently use a non-BlitzMail client, such as Apple Mail, and want to continue to use that client, there should be little change in their experience.
• Google Users: Dartmouth will continue to support faculty and others who use Google Apps for document sharing. Computing Services also will support the Microsoft SharePoint product which has similar, although more robust, capabilities. Based upon individual needs, including confidentiality, Computing Services will work with faculty and others to determine the most appropriate tool (SharePoint or Google).
• Administration and Staff: We will announce a department-by-department transition plan in spring 2011 to ensure full implementation for the campus community by early 2012.
• Alumni: Dartmouth will continue to provide graduates with a “Dartmouth.org” email account and address, and the ability to forward mail to separate, private email addresses.

Computing Services will provide training and assist individuals through the transition. Ellen Waite-Franzen will be available to attend departmental and group meetings to discuss the transition. Email and calendar data will be migrated from Blitz and Oracle to the new service. Mobile device users will be able to access their email and calendar applications. For more information on the project visit: http://www.dartmouth.edu/comp/email-cal/initiatives/blitz/

Dartmouth will participate in a preview of a new version of Microsoft Online Services beginning in August 2010 and will launch a pilot of the services in fall 2010. The first groups to join the pilot are Computing Services and the Library. This fall, Computing Services will be looking for volunteers to participate in the early adopter program. After completion of the pilot in early 2011, the rest of the campus will begin transition to the new service.

We are especially grateful to the Communications and Collaboration Tools (CoCoTools) for Faculty and Students Study Group led by Professor David Kotz, and the many people on campus who helped review alternatives over the past few years.

Carol Folt, Provost
Ellen Waite-Franzen, Vice President for Information Technology and Chief Information Officer