Problems plague new Webmail

The new look of Webmail is putting a strain on IU's e-mail servers, causing slowdowns during peak e-mail usage times.\nUniversity Information Technology Services is responding to this slow performance by adding two new servers in the next two weeks to support the IU Webmail system.\nRick Jackson, manager of messaging, said the servers located in Bloomington are used for all IU Webmail accounts, which includes students, faculty and staff. \n"It's a brand new e-mail client. We have 154,000 e-mail users and we provide services for all campuses," Jackson said.\nMondays between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. are the peak load times for Webmail usage. The increased activity during that time creates a strain on the four Webmail servers.\n"There were times on Monday when performance slowed down," Jackson said. "We're going to add two more servers to support Webmail. That should really make a big difference at those peak load times."\nJackson said one new server will be active by next week, the other will be functional the week after that. \n"We're preparing them to do their job, installing and configuring software," Jackson said.\nThe new servers were already owned by the University and had previously been used for testing and development.\nThe University purchased the servers three years ago when Webmail was first released. The University paid $240,000 for the original four servers.\nThe servers are housed at Wrubel computer center in Bloomington. They are midrange computers, which are larger than the average-sized desktop computer. \nJackson said the old servers aren't powerful enough to run the new, more sophisticated Webmail.\n"The new webmail client has a lot more features and consumes a lot more resources," Jackson said. "It takes a lot more horsepower to run that on our servers."\nAnother problem Webmail has had is that when someone else uses the service on the same computer without logging out, it keeps the previous user identity on the e-mails, so if someone sends an e-mail it will have the previous user's name and signature.\nJackson said this problem is very rare and doesn't see it as a huge dilemma.\nStudents such as sophomore Dani Silbert are noticing problems when using their Webmail accounts.\n"It seems like the new system is very slow and it creates unneeded stress," Silbert said.\nSilbert said nonfunctional Webmail can cause miscommunication between students and faculty. \n"If you can't get into e-mail, you miss important information," Silbert said.\nDespite the strain on resources, there are advantages to the new system, Jackson said.\n"It's a nicer interface graphically," Jackson said. "It tells people if they have incoming mail and tells you how much quota you're using in your mailbox."\nThe new Webmail system was developed with input from the UITS annual survey. \n"The survey determined that webmail clients wanted it to look more like Hotmail or Outlook Express, they wanted new e-mail notification and they wanted to see how much quota they were using," Jackson said. "Those were our goals."\nAfter making the changes students wanted, the Webmail system was tested.\n"We added features that people wanted, made performance changes, released it and brought it up for a trial period spring semester," Jackson said.\nUITS has a usability lab where people use applications, such as the new Webmail client last spring. In the lab, UITS monitors how they're doing and the students provide additional feedback about Webmail changes.\n-- Contact staff writer Alli Stolper at astolper@indiana.edu.