Appendix F: Additional Information on Outsourcing

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1 Appendix F: Additional Information on Outsourcing Outsourcing as a Solution for the NC State System Outsourcing as a solution was researched from several vantage points. To determine the most viable solution, certain aspects of outsourcing were considered above others. These aspects include: Levels of technical support Replacement hardware Company profile Data storage location Ability of customization The search examined example sites that already use outsourcing from both educational and professional institutions as well as companies that appear to offer a solution that most closely fits the needs designated by NC State University. Louisiana State University Outsourcing The first site examined was Louisiana State University and their outsourcing solution. Louisiana State University has a desktop portal that every student, faculty and staff member may use to access software applications, accounts, the LSU library, student class information and files and other information important for the LSU community. With the introduction of this portal, which they call PAWS, LSU also started its first web-based system integrated into the PAWS desktop. Their website states that there are over 34,000 students, faculty and staff. Approximately 70,000 login to their PAWS account each day. There are no statistics on the website regarding web mail access. In the spring of 2003, the Student Government Association expressed a need to upgrade the service. An assessment on requirements for was performed that also expressed this same conclusion. The cost associated with maintaining just the equipment that was currently in place was $300,000. The Student Government Association, with permission and guidance from the Office of Computing Services at LSU, began investigating other alternatives to their web mail dilemma. The informal requirements listed on the LSU website state that they were looking for a web mail service that was feature-rich, reliable, secure, cost effective and easily integrated with the PAWS portal. A formal definition was drafted by OCS and was used by the SGA in the search for the solution. The decision to outsource the web based system was reached in the fall of 2003 and an invitation to bid was given to carrier class providers. The bid winner was Outblaze, Ltd., with a U.S. vendor located in Massachusetts. The vendor met all requirements that the OCS had drafted and assisted in customizing and integrating the solution into the LSU portal. The Student Technology Fee provided funding for the initial set up and the yearly licensing fee. The yearly fee provides end users with the basic service package consisting of 50 MB of storage and access through the web based client. F-6

2 The yearly costs appear to have been calculated on a per computer basis, costing less than $3.00 per box and has the potential to pay for itself over time according to the LSU website. A multi-tiered service is also available for end users at LSU for an additional cost. The first tier increases the storage to 100 MB and allows for other imap/pop3 clients such as Outlook to access the servers. The cost per year to each student for the first tier is $10. The second tier allows students to publish web pages, store files and create a photo album. The cost of the second tier is not stated on the LSU website. The new web mail service is only available for students of LSU. The new web mail service offers features that are not available to users of the old web mail service. Some of those features are: Flexibility in composing messages Rich text editor Multiple attachments User friendly address book Signature setting Advanced spam blocking and mail filtering Color coded messages Personal calendar Auto reply messaging All student accounts have the address ending Conflicting information on the website also indicates that students have a maximum message size of 5 MB and of 25 MB per message. It is also stated that messages are stored locally, but the website does not explain further. Since there are 2 separate services running, there is much confusion as to which explanation matches each service. The personal calendar is a basic calendar that is viewable by others at a specific web address. Students can view other students calendars but cannot modify another s calendar. Attempts to contact LSU have met with limited success. s and phone calls to the technical help desk have not been returned. Several attempts to reach an individual within the technical community that works with their system have also failed. Several attempts to contact the technical support staff during the beginning of September have failed because of the natural disaster which has occurred in the region. Brief overview of Outblaze, Ltd. Outblaze Ltd. was established in 1998 in Hong Kong with approximately 100 employees in Hong Kong, China, South Korea, United Kingdom, India, Philippines and the United States. Outblaze is a private company that currently services over 37 million active users across 400,000 domains in 22 languages according to their website. Here is a current listing of products and services that it can offer: Address Book Auction Engine Bookmark Calendar Chat Content Manager F-7

3 Direct Mailing Engine E-CRM (Electronic Customer Relationship Manager) Supports IMAP4, POP3, Web, WAP and SMS access Fully integrated with billing system (Internet payment gateway) for premium services File Cabinet File Sharing System Forum / Message Board / BBS Greeting Cards Homepage Builder Instant Messenger (Web-based) Interactive Whiteboard Mailing Lists Match Maker Notepad Payment Gateway Photo Gallery Points System Polling System SMS (Short Message Service) Virus Scanner Outblaze offers 3 levels of support, tier 1, tier 2 and 24/7 managed support. The US office is located at: 10 Marshall Street Old Greenwich, CT Phone: +1 (203) Fax: +1 (203) Gmail Gmail is an internet based webmail client offered by Google with 2 GB of storage. Gmail is still in its testing phase and it does not have an incorporated calendar option at this time. Gmail is currently adding options to its client and may not be ready to offer a large institution a secure and consistent solution for at this time. Attempts to contact Gmail through their only advertised contact information has gone unanswered. In my opinion, Gmail appears to offer a reasonable service with an exceptional amount of storage and options. As an alternative to at NC State University, it could act as a relief to the current system. Many students at NC State currently use Gmail as their main program. However, more communication with Gmail is necessary before a complete evaluation of this service can be done. F-8

4 Bronto.com Bronto is a Durham, NC based outsourcing company with an excellent reputation in the community. It offers a web based interface for their , but no other access such as pop3 is available. Bronto does not have any type of calendaring program available and has no plans to offer any. Further, Bronto is currently implementing an ASP and is outsourcing their own hardware requirements. This company does not offer most of the options that NC State currently offers. Other Companies All companies that were investigated that offered on a payment basis could not conform to most of the needs of NC State. Most did not offer an integrated or optional web based calendaring program. Of those that were able to offer a calendaring program, the company profiles, such as that of Outblaze, were not suitable for many reasons. Many companies were foreign companies without United States based offices. Of the companies in the United States, most were designed for smaller companies and were not flexible enough in their design to accommodate the needs of NC State. Submitted by Richard Killian Edited by the CCEI Coordinating Team F-9

5 Outsourcing through the Office of Information Technology Services (ITS) North Carolina State Government The State of North Carolina's Office of Information Technology Services (ITS) offers and calendaring services to other state agencies. The infrastructure technology they have in place for and calendar services is: Isocor IMAP web server Oracle Calendar The base rate for customers is: $48 per year per account o 15 mb of quota (customer may purchase additional quota) o calendar services As a reference, ITD offers a similar service now with an approximate cost of: $18 per year per account o up to 150mb of quota (customer may purchase additional quota) o calendar services F-10