Why is Gmail in particular being proposed?
A. Several options were considered, some free and some not free. While Gmail is not the only option, we consider it the best option overall. Considerations include: • Google has a mature offering (over five years old) and has a huge established (and happy) customer base. • Google has a large community, both within and outside of Google, developing innovative new online applications. • All core features and the vast majority of advanced user features available in Microsoft Exchange are available through Google Apps for Education. • Many University of Alberta users are already using Google and many stakeholder groups already use and are familiar with Gmail. For example, Alumni Affairs offers ualberta.net email accounts for alumni through Google Apps. • Google has better-documented application programming interfaces (APIs) which we use for services like Single Sign On authentication and automatic mailbox creation as part of the CCID creation process.
