E-mail Service Feature Comparison
This chart is designed to show the various features available
on Virginia Tech's e-mail services. The Exchange service
provides e-mail, calendaring, and other groupware options
for faculty and staff. The VT Mail service provides
basic e-mail management for all affiliates including students.
| Availability |
Faculty/Staff |
Faculty/Staff/Students |
| Secure Logon |
 |
|
| Daily Off-Site Backup |
|
 |
| Virus Scanning |
|
|
| spam Filtering |
1
|
1 |
| MAPI |
|
|
| IMAPS |
2 |
Future |
| POPS |
2 |
3 |
| Group Calendar |
Special Clients4 |
|
| Global Address List |
Special Clients4,5 |
|
| Tasks/Notes/Contacts |
Special Clients4 |
|
| Public Folders |
|
|
| VT Mobile Messaging |
6 |
|
| Mailbox Size |
50 MB |
10 MB - Students
50 MB - Faculty/Staff |
| Storage Duration |
Unlimited |
17 days6 |
| Max Message Size |
Unlimited (5MB externally) |
5 MB |
| Web Access |
WebOutlook |
WebMail |
1The VT Mail servers tag all incoming e-mail that
they suspect to be unsolicited messages (also known as spam)
with a special header string beginning with "X-Junkmail"
or "X-JunkMail". For more information and links
to configuration instructions, see Unwanted E-mail at Virginia Tech
(http://www.answers.vt.edu/ask4help/email/vtkb1064.htm.
2POPS or IMAPS is required for non-Outlook or
WebOutlook access to Exchange.
3 POPS is required for non-Webmail access to the
VT Mail server. For configuration
information for your e-mail client to access your VT Mail account using Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), see the VT Mail page
(http://www.computing.vt.edu/email_and_calendaring/vt_mail/index.html).
4Outlook (using MAPI), Evolution in Unix, and WebOutlook (https://weboutlook.vt.edu/) all
offer these extended features.
5While the proprietary MAPI protocol (used by
Outlook) gives the most comprehensive view of the Global
Address List
(GAL), clients that can use LDAP queries to perform directory
lookups can also benefit from using the GAL.
6Typically, the VT Mail server stores messages
for up to 60 days and then deletes them. However, due to
continuing
growth in mail left on the server, the number of days is
modified as needed. For more information, see Mail
Storage and Retention.
6 As of July 1, 2005, GoodLink is the supported service. For details, see VT Mobile Messaging (http://www.computing.vt.edu/email_and_calendaring/exchange/mobile_messaging/index.html). |
