Edith Cowan University joins Live@Edu fraternity - err, sorority?

Stephen Withers
Tuesday, 15 December 2009 06:38

IT People - Training

The tussle between Microsoft and Google for business from Australia's universities continues: the latest round sees Edith Cowan University falling into the Microsoft camp.

Many Australian universities have decided that running email servers for the benefit of students and alumni is too expensive and too much effort. Consequently, they are turning to external providers, notably Microsoft and Google.

After testing various options, Western Australia's Edith Cowan University has picked Microsoft's Live@Edu service, and will go live with the product from the beginning of the 2010 academic year.

The change will mean students' mailboxes will be expanded from 50MB to 10GB, and they will also be able to use Microsoft Outlook Live, Microsoft Office Live Workspace, SkyDrive storage, Windows Live Messenger, Windows Live Spaces, and FolderShare.

"The ease of use of Microsoft's solution, our students' familiarity with Microsoft products and the additional benefits to our students provided by the solution have played a key role in our decision to deploy Live@Edu,” said Mark Ridge, IT support services manager, Edith Cowan University.
 
"With Live@Edu already a tried and tested product, we expect the transition will be smooth for both our solution implementers as well as our student adopters," he added.

According to Microsoft officials, Edith Cowan University is the 13th educational institution in Australia and the third university in Western Australia to select Live@Edu.

Other wins for Microsoft include TAFE SA, Flinders University, Curtin University of Technology, WA TAFE, University of Sydney, Australian Catholic University,  and Queensland University of Technology.

Google's successes in the Australian education sector include Monash University, Macquarie University, and the NSW Department of Education.