MIT Migrates to Microsoft Exchange for Hosted E-Mail

When you think of MIT, you think of techies who are open source enthusiasts, with Unix  and open source systems being the backbone of campus communication  historically.  It may come as a surprise that the pragmatic staff that manages MIT’s e-mail systems have opted recently to Microsoft Exchange for hosted e-mail.  This is another sign that Microsoft Exchange and other Microsoft products are holding their own where it matters.

Here is what MIT’s Campus newspaper has to a say about MIT’s move to Microsoft Exchange based e-mail:

“Christine C. Fitzgerald, a spokesperson for IS&T, said, “We are running Exchange servers in order to offer Microsoft Exchange. This is an optional infrastructure solution for those departments who will benefit from an integrated e-mail and calendaring solution.

Fitzgerald said that the mail system ultimately “gets to the point where upgrading the hardware is not enough to keep current. We’re trying to keep our systems current to give MIT the ability to then integrate new services into the future.”

While there are students who have do not like the change, there are others who already use Microsoft Exchange and said that they were happy with the transition of to the new system.

One student who favors Microsoft Exchange, says:

“I use Exchange because all my stuff — calendar, tasks, contacts — are seamlessly synchronized between my desktop client, my phone, and a web client.  Spam isn’t an issue.  Over the last month, maybe I’ve had one or two e-mails slip by the filter, but it’s pretty solid.   Also, server-side rules are wonderful in Exchange.”