University Information Technology (UIT) in collaboration with Tufts’ local IT support organizations, is pleased to announce that Microsoft Exchange email and calendaring services will soon be expanded to include faculty and staff in Boston, Grafton and Medford.

This change comes as a result of a lengthy process in which several email and calendar platforms were evaluated for usability, technical performance and compatibility, cost, and how well they met faculty and staff requirements as reported through a university-wide survey, focus groups, and input from Tufts’ IT professionals.  Migrating users can expect the same reliable service they have enjoyed with the Trumpeter email system, but by moving to Microsoft Exchange, users will soon gain the following advantages:

• Integrated email and calendaring
• Better mobile device compatibility
• Enhanced search capabilities across email, calendar, contacts, and tasks
• One calendar platform for faculty and staff, making it significantly easier to schedule meetings across departments
• More user-friendly Webmail interface

Existing Exchange users will also be migrated to the new system and should expect very little change to their current experience. 

Over the next few months the Exchange environment will be deployed, configured and tested by Tufts’ IT professionals.  Although UIT is still working with the local support organizations to refine the schedule, the first faculty and staff migrations will take place this summer.  All users will migrated by June 30, 2011. 

UIT and the local support organizations will ensure that information about local migrations is shared with users in a timely manner through direct communication and a dedicated email/calendar migration website.  Among other things, you will be informed of:

• Exact time frame of your migration
• What you can expect before, during and after migration
• Steps you can take to ensure your email and calendar migrate smoothly
• Training dates
• Where to get support both pre and post-migration
• How to manage your mailing lists

Questions can be directed to information-Exchange@tufts.edu or your local support organization.