The move will save the largest private school in the U.S. $400,000 in servers, licenses, administration and upkeep.
As an NYU alumnus that continues to (try to) use its online services, I have to say: What took so long?!
NYU is still using SquirrelMail, the same system that my undergraduate institution was using a decade and a half ago to deliver email.
My wife and everyone we know at NYU simply forwards their mail to a private Google (GOOG) account to save themselves the hassle of having to use such an archaic webmail system and its 200Mb limit.
Today’s news will save 60,000 students, faculty and staff at the largest private, not for profit school in the U.S. That extra step, and at the same time bring a robust collaborative environment to the university. Plus, it will save money (which will hopefully, but unlikely, be passed on to help alleviate those astronomical tuition costs).
This move to Google Apps will provide more than 60,000 students, staff and faculty at NYU with Google tools like Gmail, Calendar, Docs and Sites and will bring all 18 schools of NYU—including medical, dental and law schools—together on one uniform system. This project is estimated to save the University around $400,000 annually by eliminating the need to purchase, upgrade, and maintain in-house mail servers and software licenses. Marilyn McMillan, NYU’s Chief Information Officer says the move is “…a win-win: in one stroke, we are able to provide better email services to members of the NYU community, offer a new set of tools for academic collaboration, and achieve savings for the University.”
Microsoft (GOOG) and Google are in a race to secure the rights to deliver messaging and documents services to the education sector, with both now claiming over 10 million users.