Information Services Newsletter
Towards a New Email Service

Our Pegasus/Mercury email system has been in continuous service since 1994. Until recently this simple LAN based system had served the university well, however, the increasing volume of email, the number of users and new methods of access have pushed the system to its limits.

In 1994, less than 500 staff were registered for email, and we handled around 400 messages daily. The only method of access required was a PC/MAC connected to the university network. Today there are over 2000 staff using Pegasus with another 800 using other email systems, with up to 20,000 messages per day in transit. Staff are now demanding access to e-mail from any computer, laptop or PDA, from any location with an Internet link.

In order to meet current needs we have built a new, web-browser based, e-mail system called NetMail. This system can support up to 100,000 users. It will process over 1000 messages per minute and provides flexible Internet access to e-mail from any location. Every member of staff has been registered to use the new system, which will be announced later this year.

Michael Wallace