Rates for campus Xeda service will drop sharply starting July 1

Xeda--the centrally provided, campus integrated email and calendaring service that offers subscribers a wide range of collaboration tools--will cost substantially less per user starting July 1.

The new monthly rates per mailbox are just $2 per user, and include an increase in the default storage size to 500 MB. Larger storage quotas are available at a small additional charge (a 2 GB mailbox costs only $2.39); see the full list of storage and cost options here. Xeda rates previously began at $7.50 per month for a "base" storage allocation of 150 MB.

The significant reduction in rates is made possible by leveraging an update to the Microsoft operating system and Exchange, and by handling data storage needs by using such technologies as localized storage and Storage Area Network (SAN).

Xeda was established in 2005 through a collaborative effort between Information and Educational Technology (IET) and the Office of Administration (now part of Administrative and Resource Management, or ARM). The service is based on a centrally maintained Microsoft Exchange and Active Directory service, which provides the tools to provide email, calendaring, electronic fax, support for mobile devices, and a range of innovative communication and collaboration tools.

About 3,000 employees, from units such as IET, ARM, the Graduate School of Management, Student Affairs, and the Office of Research, currently use Xeda. Additional administrative and academic units have expressed plans or strong interest in joining Xeda, especially with the lower pricing structure. The Xeda Oversight Committee and its technical advisory group represent a cross-section of campus technologists and managers, and have been meeting with a number of academic and administrative units to ensure that the Xeda "roadmap" aligns with the most important needs of the campus community.

The recent Xeda upgrade als o establishes the foundation for the campus Communications Resources unit to build next-generation telecommunications services, using Microsoft's Office Communications Server. This will be an integral part of the centrally managed transition of campus voice telephone services to a \034Voice over Internet Protocol\035 configuration, in which voice telephony services will be provided over the campus data network.

Find more complete information about Xeda's upgrade and new rate structure here. Please direct any questions or comments to Xeda Services Manager Paul Singh at (530) 752-8809, or email xeda-help@ucdavis.edu.