University at Albany Adopts Microsoft Web Apps

  • By Dian Schaffhauser
  • 03/01/11

University at Albany, part of the State University of New York, is adding Microsoft's Live@edu services to its IT portfolio. The announcement came during a recent gathering of public sector CIOs at Microsoft's headquarters in Redmond.

Live@edu includes e-mail; a shared calendar and contacts; instant messaging services; mobile access to mail; personal storage space online; and Web access to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote features.

This university has recently begun its migration to Live@edu, and plans call for implementation to be done by fall 2011. The set of Web-based applications will be available to a user base of 23,000, including all students, faculty and staff.

"Our planning documents and budget committees have continuously recommended re-examining services in order to eliminate duplication and streamline processes, said President George Philip in a announcement to the campus community. "Live@edu will provide numerous new features, including more online space, while reducing institutional costs and complexity. This project is exemplary in its effective use of resources in support of our core mission."

Philip's letter came after a lengthy evaluation that also considered Google Apps for Education, in-house service options, and other products. That evaluation included at least 25 meetings with users across the university as well as a pilot project with 125 participants that ran both Live@edu and Google Apps.

The project includes an upgrade to Exchange 2010 and Office 2010. By April, according the the university, the IT organization will begin provisioning new accounts in Live@edu.

At the same CIO event, Microsoft said that the Fashion Institute of Technology, also part of the SUNY network, and Tennessee's Vanderbilt University are implementing Live@edu as well.

About the Author

Dian Schaffhauser is a former senior contributing editor for 1105 Media's education publications THE Journal, Campus Technology and Spaces4Learning.

Featured

  • student reading a book with a brain, a protective hand, a computer monitor showing education icons, gears, and leaves

    4 Steps to Responsible AI Implementation

    Researchers at the University of Kansas Center for Innovation, Design & Digital Learning (CIDDL) have published a new framework for the responsible implementation of artificial intelligence at all levels of education.

  • glowing digital brain interacts with an open book, with stacks of books beside it

    Federal Court Rules AI Training with Copyrighted Books Fair Use

    A federal judge ruled this week that artificial intelligence company Anthropic did not violate copyright law when it used copyrighted books to train its Claude chatbot without author consent, but ordered the company to face trial on allegations it used pirated versions of the books.

  • server racks, a human head with a microchip, data pipes, cloud storage, and analytical symbols

    OpenAI, Oracle Expand AI Infrastructure Partnership

    OpenAI and Oracle have announced they will develop an additional 4.5 gigawatts of data center capacity, expanding their artificial intelligence infrastructure partnership as part of the Stargate Project, a joint venture among OpenAI, Oracle, and Japan's SoftBank Group that aims to deploy 10 gigawatts of computing capacity over four years.

  • laptop displaying a phishing email icon inside a browser window on the screen

    Phishing Campaign Targets ED Grant Portal

    Threat researchers at cybersecurity company BforeAI have identified a phishing campaign spoofing the U.S. Department of Education's G5 grant management portal.