According to Microsoft, by signing up for Live@edu, the schools gain access to Microsoft Office Outlook Live for e-mail, Microsoft Office Live Workspace to share and collaborate on documents, Windows Live Messenger for instant messaging, and Windows Live SkyDrive for 25 GB of online data storage space.
"Our goal with Live@edu is to equip the next generation of leaders with a rich set of productivity and collaboration tools as they move from campus to business environments," said Takeshi Numoto, corporate vice president of the Office Product Management Group at Microsoft Corp. "It is exciting to see students, educators and IT administrators choosing Live@edu to enrich the learning experience and to prepare students for future success," he said.
The recently signed up univerisites include Washington State University, University of Sydney, Australia, Alexandria University, Egypt and Sri Lankan Universities of Colombo, Peradeniya, Jaffna, Kelaniya, Moratuwa, Ruhuna, Sri Jayawardenepura, Wayamba, Sabaragamuwa,, Uva Wellassa and the Eastern University of Sri Lanka.
"The Live@edu service meets all our internal IT requirements and offers functionality that the university's system could not compete with. Our students now have the advantage of a greatly increased mailbox capacity as well as the option to have an e-mail account for life," said Bruce Meikle, chief information officer at the University of Sydney. "In addition to these student benefits, the IT department now has an easy-to-manage and scalable e-mail service that will help take the university into the future."In addition, Microsoft launched a new services management portal that gives IT administrators a one-stop location to access critical tasks and manage services. Another new resource, Outlook Live Answers, gives administrators a convenient forum to post questions and quickly locate answers. Live@edu features 24x7 online and telephone support and is designed to work with campuses' existing IT infrastructure, including Microsoft Exchange Server, which makes Live@edu a smart choice compared with other free educational offerings.
"Faced with escalating costs in providing e-mail and rising student needs, schools are looking for a better way than going it alone," said Christopher Voce of Forrester Research Inc. in his June 10, 2009 report, "Case Study: What Enterprises Can Learn From Universities' Cloud-Based Hybrid Email." "This initiative has successfully lowered the schools' e-mail costs and significantly enhanced the student experience."
No comments:
Post a Comment