E-mail at Penn - Penn Printout, Oct 1992

The University of Pennsylvania's Online Computing Magazine

October 1992 - Volume 9:2

E-mail at Penn: The next generation

By Daniel Updegrove

Two new electronic mail systems, Elm and Eudora, will enjoy widespread use at Penn this year as the result of the recommendations of the campus-wide Task Force on Electronic Mail, which recently concluded its year's work. Elm is a conventional terminal-to-host system, while Eudora provides a desktop computer "client" interface that receives and sends mail to a remote "server" computer elsewhere on PennNet. Combined with the School of Arts and Sciences' commitment to providing e-mail for all students during calendar year 1993, these new offerings, which are less costly and simpler to use than previous systems available at Penn, are expected to increase dramatically the number of students, faculty, and staff with e-mail service.

Reflecting Penn's distributed computing and budgeting responsibility, some Schools and departments will provide e-mail at no charge; other departments and individuals will be able to purchase services from Data Communications and Computing Services (DCCS). Consult your local computing administrator or PennInfo for details on services available to you.

Background

Electronic mail, the exchange of messages via computer, has been used extensively in some Schools and departments for many years, with the usefulness of e-mail increasing as Penn's host computers were interconnected by PennNet and linked to other universities worldwide via Internet and BITNET. Researchers collaborating with distant colleagues, students checking homework assignments, and administrators planning (or avoiding!) meetings all came to appreciate the convenience and cost effectiveness of e-mail, as compared to telephone tag, conventional mail, and document delivery services. To be sure, some preferred fax, but fax is more location dependent, often requires a toll call, and (usually) doesn't produce a document that can be edited at the receiving end.

A campus-wide task force examined the e-mail needs of the entire Penn community...

In summer 1991 Vice Provost for Information Systems and Computing Peter C. Patton charged a campus-wide task force with assessing the feasibility of providing universal e-mail service for undergraduates. The original task force soon expanded its purview to include:

Investigating electronic bulletin board (NetNews) service as an adjunct to e-mail, based upon the successful experiences of Medicine and Engineering
Investigating e-mail and bulletin board service for graduate and professional students
Providing e-mail to unserved faculty
Reviewing e-mail options for office staff
Three challenges came to dominate the weekly discussions--and even more frequent e-mail exchanges--of the task force:
Identifying a low-cost, supportable end-user software standard to replace the numerous host-based and local area network-based e-mail systems proliferating at Penn
Articulating School-based and central support services to handle a projected 100 percent increase in the number of e-mail users on campus
Avoiding overcrowding in student computer labs, many of which are at capacity during peak times in the semester

E-mail at Penn: 1991

When the task force began its work, several host-based mail systems were in widespread use at Penn:

ALL-IN-1, a host-based system for DEC VAX minicomputers, which includes group calendar management as well as e-mail. Officially endorsed by ISC in 1989, ALL-IN-1 has been adopted in Medicine, Veterinary Medicine, selected offices in Wharton, and many central administrative offices. Penn enhancements include support for transferring files (in both ASCII and binary formats) to and from desktop computers and online lookups to the campus directory. Although ISC provides training courses and support hot lines, some users find ALL-IN-1's addressing and editing idiosyncratic, and its operating costs tend to be higher than for newer UNIX-based systems.
PROFS, IBM's longtime flagship system, which was supported by Arts and Sciences on the PENNSAS mainframe. IBM announced withdrawal of support by 1992.
VMS Mail, a less costly but less user-friendly alternative to ALL-IN-1 for the VAX line, which was used in Wharton and elsewhere.
Berkeley Mail, found on numerous UNIX workstations as well as ENIAC, the central server machine for the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.

All these systems communicated with each other using the Internet standard Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP). SMTP gateways were also becoming available to enable local area network (LAN)-based e-mail, such as QuickMail for Macintoshes and Pegasus for Novell networks, to send and receive Internet mail. Messages were usually delivered reliably, but substantial "tweaking" was often required to make the various vendors' offerings conform to the SMTP standard. User support costs were also high, in part because of the multitude of systems and in part because users familiar with desktop computers had to learn awkward host- based editors and commands.

E-mail at Penn: 1992

Based on the recommendations of the Task Force, the e-mail environment for users now looks markedly different, although SMTP remains the underlying standard.

Elm. The e-mail product recommended for widespread student use is Elm, a system that runs on all vari-ants of UNIX hosts and can be accessed via Macintoshes, IBM PC/compatibles, and other computers emulating so-called "vt100" terminals. As a host-based system, Elm supports the needs of students wishing to access e-mail from home in the morning, a lab in the afternoon, and a library at night. Elm should also be attractive to faculty and administrators who lack the IP/ethernet connections to PennNet required for Eudora (see below).

Elm's simple commands, context-sensitive help, and access to the online directory make it easy to learn and use. And, because it is a public-domain software product, the University incurs no license cost for unlimited use of Elm. Maintenance and distribution of the Elm software, reflecting modifications for the Penn environment, will be provided by DCCS.

Elm is already the standard offering to Law School faculty and to staff of Development and Alumni Relations. It is being introduced this year in SEAS and SAS (replacing PROFS) and is planned for use in Wharton next year. An interface developed in the Mathematics Department at Penn makes Elm compatible with NeXTmail, for those who need remote access to mail on NeXTstations.

DCCS will offer "retail" Elm accounts, at $100 per year, for any interested Penn department or individual. This fee, payable yearly in advance, includes documentation, two Mbytes of disk storage, and unlimited connect time. Retail customers will also be able to call the Computing Resource Center for support. To arrange for accounts or for more information, contact the PennNet Service Center, 898-8171, or send e-mail to psc@dccs.upenn.edu.

Eudora. Eudora is one of a new class of e-mail products using the Post Office Protocol (POP), wherein a network server (typically a UNIX host) receives mail, which is forwarded on demand to users on their desktop workstations. Such client/server systems enable users to read and compose messages on their workstations using familiar interfaces and cut-copy-paste conventions, while requiring very few central resources. Eudora also supports document interchange, but only among users of Eudora. (Eudora, developed at University of Illinois, was named, whimsically, after author Eudora Welty, who penned a story about the social life around a post office.)

Eudora is currently recommended for IP/ethernet-connected Macintoshes. A version for IBM PC/compatible computers is promised this fall. Both versions are expected to have direct access to the online directory. Medicine, SAS, and SEAS all operate POP servers for faculty and staff use. Student use of Eudora is expected to be negligible, since the POP protocol assumes desktop storage of messages, which is difficult in a public lab environment.

DCCS will operate a "retail" POP server as well, with no charge for accounts requiring two Mbytes or less of online disk storage. Accounts will be restricted, however, to departments that have authorized use of the service by their faculty, staff, or students and can demonstrate adequate facilities for access. To arrange for accounts or for more information, contact the PennNet Service Center, 898-8171, or send e- mail to psc@dccs.upenn.edu.

No end-user support is planned for Eudora, although installation assistance for Eudora client software is available from the School of Medicine's Office of Information Technology (OIT) on a time-available basis at $50 per workstation. Contact OIT at 898-9755, or send e-mail to king@a1.mscf.upenn.edu.

ALL-IN-1. ISC will continue to support ALL-IN-1 for the foreseeable future, given the large installed base of users and the current dearth of alternatives for users needing group calendaring or up- and downloading of binary documents. Although Elm is somewhat easier to use and cheaper to operate, many departments are not expected to migrate from ALL-IN-1 until their workstations and networks can support client/server solutions. Departments now considering e-mail are strongly encouraged to consider alternatives to ALL-IN-1.

Pegasus. For PCs on Novell networks, the task force recommends Pegasus, another public-domain product. Together with its low-cost Charon gateway, Pegasus provides a clean interface and full Internet compatibility, but no remote access. Pegasus is used in Career Planning and Placement, Nursing, and Wharton. ISC has no current plans to support Pegasus, however.

QuickMail. QuickMail, a product for Macintosh networks, is popular in several departments, including Pathology and Radiation Safety. The task force recommended against ISC support for such commercial LAN-based products, given the availability of lower-cost POP alternatives.

The online directory

Currently over 2,650 faculty and staff are listed in WHOIS, the online directory; students are expected to be added in January. WHOIS is accessible from the annex prompt, as well as from within ALL-IN-1, Elm, and (soon) Eudora. WHOIS.UPENN.EDU is also accessible from the Internet, so remote correspondents can find e-mail addresses for their colleagues at Penn. If you discover that your e-mail address is missing or erroneous, send a message to directory@dccs.

Support

Since School e-mail services vary so widely, it is difficult to generalize about support. In 1993 SAS will join Engineering, Medicine, and the Annenberg School of Communications in providing and supporting universal e-mail for students, faculty, and staff. Wharton continues its policy of providing e-mail for all PhD and MBA students as well as any undergraduate who requests it, and other schools are assessing their options in light of the new DCCS service offerings. End-user support at the Computing Resource Center (CRC) will be limited to ALL-IN-1 and retail Elm accounts until further notice.

Access

Many student computer labs provide PennNet access, (see listing under "Campus computer labs" October 1992), but owners of personal computers would be well advised to consider modem access to PennNet, given peak loading patterns in labs. Current modem recommendations are as follows:

2400 baud. The Practical Peripherals modem, available at the RComputer Connection for $105. At the 2400-baud data transmission rate, Elm service would be adequate but Eudora would be impossibly slow.
9600/14,400 baud. Results of DCCS's testing will be announced in PennInfo and the November Penn Printout. These data rates are quite adequate for both Elm and Eudora.
19,200 baud. PennNet Residential service is available in all residence halls plus off-campus housing in areas served by telephone exchanges 222, 243, 349, 382, 386, 387, 590, 662, and 895. The cost is $325 one-time and $22.50 per month. PennNet Residential, which utilizes a special "data over voice" modem permitting simultaneous data and voice communication, should be especially attractive where one roommate or family member uses PennNet so frequently that a second phone line would have been needed. (See September 1992 Penn Printout or PennInfo for details on this service.)

The future

Universal access, the founding vision of PennNet, is still a few years away. Fortunately, as expected, prices for desktop computers and high-speed networking have decreased (and the nominal price for some excellent software has gone, literally, to zero, as some authors choose Internet fame over personal fortunes). Unfortunately, our appetite for new capabilities continues to escalate: In a few years we'll wonder how we got along without exchanging voice-annotated spreadsheets and optical character recognition-compatible faxes.

The task force sought-and found-a middle ground between inexpensive and state-of-the-art, and between the needs of large and small Schools. Equally important, it forged some new alliances among Schools and ISC that will serve Penn well in the challenging years ahead.

References

Guide to Elm at Penn. ISC Publications, 1992.

Guide to Eudora at Penn. ISC Publications, 1992.

Introduction To PennNet Electronic Mail, Version 1.5. Data Communications and Computing Services, May 1991.

Gerald J. Porter, "Student E-mail Advances Penn's Goals," Penn Printout, Volume 8, Number 1, September 1991, p. 22.

Daniel A. Updegrove, John A. Muffo, John A. Dunn, Jr. "Electronic Mail and Networks: New Tools for University Administrators.'" CAUSE/EFFECT, Volume 13, Spring 1990, pp. 41-48.

Sidebar: E-mail Task Force Sub-committee Chairs

Elm: Ira Winston, Director of Computing and Educational Technology Services, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences

POP: Dr. Albert Shar, Chief Information Officer, School of Medicine

Small Schools: Linda May, Director of Planning, Office of Information Systems and Computing.

DANIEL UPDEGROVE, Associate Vice Provost for Information Systems and Computing, chaired the Task Force on Electronic Mail. His electronic mail address is updegrove@dccs.upenn.edu.