The presentation reviews the risks associated with multiple legacy email systems at Lamar University and recommends outsourcing email to the MERIT Consortium.

1. Background 2008:
E-Mail @ Lamar University
• Lamar University lacked a single unified
communications solution for all
students, faculty and staff.
• Four inherited mail solutions: My
Lamar (Luminis Mail), Exchange,
Computer Science E-Mail and Electrical
Engineering E-Mail.

2. Risk Assessment
• LU email was fractured, fragmented
and fragile. Not only providing sub-
standard service, but was also leaving
students, faculty and staff without e-mail
in times of natural disasters, and
representing a serious security risk at
all times.

3. My.Lamar E-Mail
Fragmented
Fractured
Fragile
Current
Students
Faculty/Staff
?
Limited
Mailbox
Size
Limited
Attachment
SizeCrashes
often
20 year
old
technology

4. Upgrade Luminis Mail?
• My.Lamar Mail ran on a poorly
implemented (legacy) system.
• “Doing it over the right way” would have
cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.
• Luminis Mail was End of Life: SGHE
was no longer offering Luminis Mail with
Luminis 5.

5. LU Exchange
Under
Sized
Under
Scoped
Not
Redundant
No
Offsite
NOT All
Faculty/Staff
Limited
Attachment
Size
Limited
Mailbox
Size

6. Cost of Upgrading
Exchange?
• A highly-available, redundant
Exchange system that would work
during natural disasters and serve all
students, faculty and staff would have
cost approximately $750,000 to
implement properly.

7. Outsource With Google
or Microsoft?
• Lack of Service Level Agreements: G-mail is
all the rage, but good luck if it stops working.
• “Bleeding Edge” Technology: Microsoft option
for faculty/staff mail launched a few weeks
ago. G-Mail is Still in “Beta.”
• Loss of Control: With Microsoft or G-mail your
mail could be geographically anywhere in the
world.

8. Hosted Option: MeritMail
• Merit is a non-profit higher ed consortium.
• Offers a hosted mail service with a service
level agreement geared to higher education.
• With Merit, Lamar University maintained
control:
– University e-mail stayed in the USA.
– Because the software (Zimbra) is open
source, the University could bring mail
back in house in the future.

9. MeritMail Pilot at Lamar
University
• Allowed LU to stay on Outlook and add
Blackberry support.
• Web interface is fully featured & easy to use.
• ITS pilot of MeritMail proved extremely
successful. Works on Windows, Mac & Linux.

10. MeritMail Solution
Scalable
Redundant
Unified
Unlimited
Mailbox Size
50-100MB
Attachment Size
High
Availability
Backed
Up
Works in a
Hurricane

11. How Much Would You
Pay Per Student Mailbox
Per Year?
• $100? $50? $25? $10?
• How about $5 per student per year?
• Upgrading existing Exchange server to
handle all students would have cost at least
five times as much per student per year (with
less functionality).

12. On-Going Costs:
Exchange vs. Merit
• Total on-going cost for upgraded Exchange
mail system at Lamar University estimated at
more than a million dollars over three years.
• Total on-going cost for MeritMail solution
projected to be one-third as much over three
years.

13. Implementation Costs:
MeritMail vs. Exchange
• Cost to implement MeritMail: $30,000.
• Cost to implement Exchange:
$750,000.

14. In Summary
• MeritMail is a proven and cost-
effective solution that reduces
demonstrated risk and provides first
rate service via a unified
communications platform at an
affordable price point for higher
education.

15. Recommendation &
Outcome
• ITS recommended that LU move all
student/faculty/staff mail to MeritMail
as quickly as possible before the next
hurricane could strike.
• President and Executive Council
approved MeritMail deployment.
• MeritMail successfully deployed by
LU ITS in collaboration with MERIT
staff.