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Berkeleyan

January brings e-mail ‘migration’ to UCLink users

| 14 January 2004

UCLink users will start the new semester with a new campus e-mail system as well, with the debut of CalMail.

After many months of system crashes and slowdowns, UCLink was deemed beyond repair, and Information Systems and Technology accelerated the process of finding a replacement. The new system was selected in October, installed in November, tested in December, and is being launched campuswide this month.

IS&T originally had planned to migrate UCLink’s 40,000 accounts to the new CalMail system last Sunday. However, following an outcry from campus tech-support teams who needed more time to handle the conversion, a two-pronged approach was developed.

UCLink users have been able to convert their own accounts to CalMail since Monday, Jan. 12. To do so, users log in to UCLink as usual (at www-uclink.berkeley.edu), then follow the Manage Your Account prompts to convert to CalMail.

Some changes required
UCLink users need to change some configuration settings on their e-mail clients before they can make full use of the new CalMail system. Users whose e-mail passwords include spaces will need to choose a new password (CalMail doesn’t accept spaces). A limited number of users — those reading e-mail on versions 5.1 or 5.2.0 of Eudora for Windows-powered PCs — also will need to upgrade to version 5.2.1 or newer or reconfigure their e-mail client before they can convert. Users of Eudora for Macintosh are not affected.

The voluntary self-migration period lasts for only a week. All UCLink accounts that have not already been converted by their owners will be migrated en masse to CalMail on Saturday, Jan. 17. (As a result, both UCLink and CalMail will be unavailable from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. that day.) Owners of accounts converted in this mass switchover should not need to make changes to their e-mail settings, but any of them using the outdated versions of Eudora for Windows will still need to upgrade or reconfigure.

During and after the conversion, UCLink users will be able to access their e-mail through the BearMail web interface (bearmail.berkeley.edu). BearMail will be replaced for UCLink users in early March by the new CalMail web client, which offers a broader range of features. Socrates e-mail users will continue to use BearMail past the March cutoff.

UCLink e-mail users who encounter conversion problems they can’t solve should call the CalMail support desk at 642-7776. This desk will be staffed by CalMail student consultants from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday; outside those hours, CalMail support calls will be fielded by IS&T’s 24-hour Trouble Desk at 642-4920.

The new CalMail system borrows its name from the CalMail campuswide announcement service run by the chancellor’s office (which henceforth will be called CalMail Messages).

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