Google recently announced that it is now offering free e-mail services for college campuses. The program, called Apps for Education, is one of several corporate e-mail providers for colleges, including Microsoft's Windows Live.
According to the Google Web site, the e-mail service, which was initiated in August, offers benefits that include increased storage space and a variety of applications such as instant messaging and a page designing service, all at no cost to the college.
Arizona State University was one of the first colleges to implement the Apps for Education service.
Adrian Sannier, technology officer at the office of the president at ASU, pointed out that the program allows students to maintain ".edu" e-mail addresses.
"We were always letting people forward their mail" from outside service providers, Sannier said. "What we're doing by creating an alliance with Google is we're making it easier for students to get an '.edu' address."
James Palazzolo, ASU's technology office communications coordinator, said 2,300 students signed up for Google's e-mail service on Tuesday, the first day it was available. The number has since increased to 2,900. He said there has not been a large increase in e-mail-related technical questions despite the large number of students who have switched service providers.
"It's gone exceptionally well," Palazzolo said. "We've had very few technical problems with it."
A Google press release notes that ASU's transition to the Apps for Education service is one of the largest in the country.
"We're really pleased with it," Palazzolo said. "The service is so tremendous for the community. We're really happy to be able to do it for them and to build this relationship with Google."
James Jokl, director of communications at Information Technology and Communications, said the University is aware of these e-mail services, but has not made any plans to implement them.
"We've talked to one or two of the clients, but we're basically just watching to see what happens," Jokl said.
The University's current e-mail service consists of a variety of programs, such as Mulberry and Outlook Express, which all allow students to access their University e-mail accounts.
"Mulberry hits the same back-end mail store as Webmail does and you can access that from a number of different clients," Jokl explained.
Jokl also said ITC wants to receive feedback from other colleges that are using these types of outsourced services before it is enacted at the University.
"Right now they're mostly just initial trials and we're watching to see how they go," Jokl said.
A Google representative directed inquiries to the press release.
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