Campus Changeover to New E-mail System Began February 3
2010-01-25
On Wednesday, February 3, Jacksonville State University began the changeover to a new campus wide e-mail system. This system is a vast improvement over the old GEM system and has many new features and capabilities such as drag and drop, shared address books and calendars. (For a preview of the system, please visit http://www.jsu.edu/dit/acns/email/gem.html).
This change affects every JSU e-mail user. Once the migration is complete, users will gain access to the new system through their MyJSU account and password. The changeover begins at 8 p.m. on Feb. 3 and actual e-mail downtime is expected to be less than 24 hours.
For Students
For students, old e-mail (e-mail that is stored on the current server) will still be accessible in a view only fashion (no sending or receiving) at http://gem-archive.jsu.edu. Again, this will be in a non-sending or receiving configuration – to see new mail or send e-mail students must use the new e-mail system at http://gem.jsu.edu. Old e-mail (stored on the old server) will automatically be migrated to the new system over a period of days following February 3. During the time it takes to migrate student e-mail, users will only be able to view old mail at http://gem-archive.jsu.edu. Students also must use http://gem.jsu.edu to send/receive any new mail.
For Faculty and Staff
Faculty and staff began training on the system in September 2009 through a series of introductory sessions. Many of those who signed up for one of the 23 introductory training sessions have already had their mail migrated. Since 2009, more than 675 faculty and staff have been migrated to the new system.
For faculty and staff who have already migrated to the new system, there will only be a short downtime during the changeover. Those who are already using the new system may continue to log on as they have in the past or may use http://gem.jsu.edu to access the system after Feb. 3.
For faculty and staff who have not attended training or who indicated that they would not attend training: After Feb. 3, users will still be able to access GEM in a view only fashion (no sending or receiving) either through http://gem-archive.jsu.edu or the previously used mail client (Outlook, Mozilla, Mac Mail, etc.) Faculty and staff who have not been trained or migrated will need to be put in the queue for migration. This may be done by visiting http://www.jsu.edu/dit/acns/email/zimbramigrate.html. During the time it takes to migrate everyone, old mail will only be accessible at http://gem-archive.jsu.edu or via former mail client. All new mail will be sent/received via http://gem.jsu.edu. Those wishing to ‘start fresh’ need take no action—just begin using the new system from Feb. 3 forward. Users are reminded that the gem-archive server will not be available permanently; therefore, any messages users wish to keep must be migrated.
Finally, users who forward their JSU e-mail address to another account must sign on to the new system to re-activate mail forward. Instructions for doing this can be found at http://www.jsu.edu/dit/acns/email/gem.html.
Thank you for your cooperation and understanding as this upgrade moves forward.
