School of Arts and Sciences Computing has installed updates to its aging Webmail system and increased the e-mail and disk quotas.
The upgrades, which took place over winter break, nearly doubled the total storage space currently available from 35 megabytes to 65 MB.
SAS computing allocates each user 25 MB for e-mail and 40 MB for general storage. The system has automatically raised the limits on all accounts.
The $50,000 service work disabled the e-mail service a few times over break. However, students were given advanced notice of the down times.
The recent changes will provide users with a more stable and robust e-mail system, according to School of Arts and Sciences IT Executive Director Ira Winston.
SAS Webmail faltered four times last semester. Three of the incidents occurred within a five-week period, and twice, hundreds of users lost e-mail service.
The outages were brief and happened mostly during the late-night hours, said Winston. Still, the disruptions affected many students by preventing access to their school work and messages.
"Occasionally, things go down at 3 a.m., and we get right on it," said Winston. "We are fully aware of how critical a service this is."
Each of Penn's schools operates its own e-mail system and has separate servers, Internet portals, and disk quotas. The School of Arts and Sciences Webmail server is housed in a building at 34th and Walnut streets, and this machine received the tuning.
Engineering students, who often store large laboratory files, have the largest inbox allocation: 250 MB. The Wharton School offers 50 MB, and the School of Nursing provides 15 MB.
Last semester, SAS Computing removed an e-mail setting that allowed messages marked for deletion to remain hidden from the inbox view. Officials said the option had confused many students who turned it on accidentally and then ended up with clogged boxes.
Removing the feature streamlined data flow and lowered the volume of complaints, Winston said, adding that he anticipates the new upgrades -- especially the increased quota -- will have a similar effect.
Yet the recent modifications are not expected to be a long-term fix. Administrators have called the current e-mail infrastructure outdated, and College Dean Dennis DeTurck has expressed interest in completely replacing the system.
Many students hope that the new quota will end the frustrating warning e-mails that appear when their inboxes reach capacity, an event more common now with large music, video and photograph files being sent over the network.
"I'm happy, but 35 to 65 [MB] is like adding a tent to an igloo. We need a house for our e-mail," College junior Andrew McGregor said.
Other students may notice few changes to the system.
"I've never run into any problems with the quota in the past, so I don't expect any changes in my usage," College junior Patrick Furlong said.
Webmail expansion - Changes to SAS Webmail allow space for up to 65 MB of e-mail - Update designed to provide more 'stable' and 'robust' e-mail system for users - Engineering still leads the other three undergraduate schools with 250 MB of storage
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