Boston Public Schools
When the largest school system in Massachusetts decided to provide e-mail to the school population, it was no small task. With a very large population, the user base had varying degrees of computer skills.
Finding a mail server that would be easy to use for all the skill levels, yet powerful enough to handle thousands of users, was a real challenge. But a challenge that had to be met.
In 1996, the Boston School Committee adopted a five-year reform plan called "Focus on Children." Among the goals of the plan was to "to build a state-of-the-art technology infrastructure and train teachers to use technology effectively." Making the leap to e-mail was identified as a key need for the school system’s technology initiative.
Al Lau, director of information services for the school system, considered many things when looking for an e-mail server. The key features included price, ease of use, Web messaging, and ease of administration. Boston Public Schools found IMail Server met all these criteria and purchased more than 100 copies of the product. They received a free one-year service agreement as a result of the purchase.
"We evaluated a number of mail servers including Microsoft Exchange but found them to be very time consuming," said Lau. "IMail was very easy to install and use. Many of our teachers and students were immediately sending e-mail
messages out."
During 1999, IMail was rolled out to a portion of the 129 schools in the school system. Several thousand users were given e-mail accounts, first concentrating on users at the high school level. In the coming months, Boston Public Schools plans on expanding e-mail services to the remaining schools. Since IMail is offered in a configuration for an unlimited number of users, it’s a good choice for growing organizations like the Boston Public Schools.
When fully implemented, there will be approximately 70,000 e-mail users. Lau has every confidence that IMail will easily handle the task.