Software updates underway on the Central Mail Service promise the University community increased efficiency and security in accessing e-mail accounts, officials say.
CMS, the University's e-mail storage system, will undergo updates over the next two months.
As CMS moves accounts from existing hardware to updated hardware, users occasionally will face system downtime. This is scheduled to occur over a series of Saturdays from Jan. 2 through Feb. 9, as well as a system-wide downtime Feb.16.
Jayne Ashworth, electronic mail postmaster coordinator, said to "keep the inconvenience down," users will be notified in advance via e-mail of downtimes, and that such periods will last no longer than three hours.
Ashworth added that a real need exists to "provide better service to the U.Va. community," especially with projected increases in resource usage.
CMS now serves approximately 25,000 users, but this number is expected to reach 30,000 in the next several years.
CMS also enforced upgrades because of increased security demands and the limitations of current open source software in providing access to mail .
Robin Rubbager, manager of network services, said students will enjoy many immediate benefits from the upgrade.
In addition to faster response times, users can anticipate more storage space on the system. Previously, undergraduates were allocated 10 megabytes of storage space, graduate students 20 megabytes, and faculty and staff members 50 megabytes.
"The default quota will be quadrupled," Rubbager said, so that users may save more messages in folders on the server and the inbox.
Some e-mail clients, such as Mulberry, will experience cosmetic changes in the display of folders, but there will be no change in functionality.
In an effort to heighten security, the upgrade also will allow for the addition of encrypted passwords.
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