Cornell is in the midst of upgrading its email services for faculty, staff, and students. This process is expected to be finished by mid-2010.
For undergraduates, graduate students, and professional students, the upgraded service is Cmail. Powered by Google Apps Education Edition, Cmail includes a Gmail account, built-in voice and video chat, Google Calendar, Google Docs, and more.
Cmail became available to students in April 2009. New* students automatically receive a Cmail account when they activate their Cornell NetID. Students who were here before April 2009 have been moving to Cmail at their own pace. All students will need to switch to Cmail (or another email provider of their choice) by mid-2010 when the old postoffice email system is expected to be retired.
* "New" means students who enrolled at the university after April 2009.
For faculty and staff, the upgraded service is Exchange. This service provides a much larger 7-GB email account, a better web-based way to view email, and easier access to email with smart phones.
Faculty and staff are switching to Exchange from September 2009 through spring 2010 on a schedule set by their college, administrative unit, or department. Retirees will also be switching to Exchange at a time to be determined.
In late spring 2010, a new Exchange-based calendar system will replace Oracle Calendar. When this happens, all Oracle Calendar meetings since January 2008 will be copied to the new system, and everyone's calendars will be switched, all at once, from Oracle Calendar to the new system.
Faculty and staff whose email account is in the Exchange system can access their email in these ways:
Some colleges and departments operate their own, independent email systems. Specific information, help, and instructions are available from those colleges and departments.
Until 2009, Cornell had just one email system that faculty, staff, and students shared. You may hear people talk about their postoffice account, or WebMail, or Oracle Calendar (formerly, Corporate Time).
These are all services that Cornell is replacing with new services that are a better fit for the different needs of faculty, staff, and students.
Faculty, staff, and students who are not yet using the new services can access the old postoffice system in these ways:
