IT & MCIS

DEFINITION OF STANDARD:
E-mail is the electronic transmission of messages and associated attachments from one user to another by means of a mail software system that includes store and forward capabilities. In particular, e-mail provides time independence. That is, the receiving system does not have to be active when the original message is sent, because the e-mail software system will store the message until the receiver is available.

RATIONALE: Electronic mail has become the most common component of both public and private office automation efforts. In order for employees from different state departments to communicate electronically, it is desirable to share the same electronic mail and calendaring software. This simplifies the communication process and eliminates the need for costly and often undependable e-mail gateways. This also allows the state to benefit from economies of scale in software licenses, user training and technical support.

At a university, there are a number of different legitimate uses of e-mail. Accordingly, there is no single e-mail system or standard that can be universally applicable. E-mail will continue to be a centrally provided service for all faculty, students, and staff at the University, with no recharge for the service.

The University will be investigating other protocols for mail clients. The emerging IMAP4 standard is the best candidate at the moment. IMAP4 clients are being investigated.

REVIEW CYCLE: Annually
RESPONSIBLE CONTACT:
Dan Durbin sysdan@email.uky.edu

TIMELINE:
REVISION DATE: May 28, 2003
EFFECTIVE DATE: November 20, 2001

Recommended Standard(s):
Email standard for inter-server communication

The Simple Message Transfer Protocol (SMTP) is the standard for mail servers communicating with each other. This standard is based primarily on RFC 821 and RFC 822 and their successors. These protocols are covered at http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc821.html and http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc822.html and other locations.

Student e-mail will be centrally managed by the Computing Center and use the POP3 (Post Office Protocol) based on RFC 1939. This protocol is described in depth at http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc1939.html and other locations. The standard client for retrieving mail from the POP3 based server is Eudora Pro, a commercial product from Qualcom (http://www.eudora.com/) and bulk licensed by the University of Kentucky.

Faculty/Staff email standards
Staff e-mail will be centrally managed by the Computing Center and use the POP3 (Post Office Protocol) based on RFC 1939. This protocol is described in depth at http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc1939.html and other locations.

The standard client for retrieving mail from the POP3 based server is Eudora Eudora Pro, a commercial product from Qualcom (http://www.eudora.com/) and bulk licensed by the University of Kentucky.

Faculty/Staff calendaring, collaboration and messaging

Mail, calendaring, and collaboration and messaging for what is currently termed the "knowledge worker" will be handled by the Microsoft Exchange platform from Microsoft Corporation (http://www.microsoft.com) and centrally managed by the Computing Center. This server-based product communicates with the clients via RPC (Remote Procedure Calls). RPC is described by RFC1050, RFC 1037, and RFC 1831. The standard client is Microsoft Outlook and the current and previous releases will be supported. This would currently be Outlook 2000 and Outlook 98.

Recommended Product(s):
Client: Microsoft Outlook 98 (Exchange), Eudora (POP)
Server: Microsoft Exchange

Justification:
The Microsoft electronic mail products offer greater functionality than standards-based email products, which utilize the internet’s POP mail protocol. One example is the global address book, which contains the names and addresses of all registered users. This increased functionality provides for simplified ease-of-use which leads directly to higher employee productivity. The Microsoft electronic mail products are proprietary in nature, but support the internet’s POP mail protocol to allow electronic communication with internet users all over the world.