New email system encounters difficulty

Users of Warwick’s student email have been experiencing problems logging in to their accounts following the switch to Microsoft’s Live@Edu system last weekend. The problem was caused when passwords failed to transfer from the old email system to Live@Edu, resulting in many students having to phone IT Services to have their passwords reset.

A University spokesperson told the _Boar_: “The migration process is quite complex and requires us to delete and recreate certain information in students’ accounts. We had expected and intended to recreate passwords, but for reasons we’re not yet completely clear about, that process failed we are focussing on fixing the problems this has caused right now.”

The problems are believed to affect “a substantial majority of all students”, but an exact figure is unknown.

When asked how well the changeover went in general, the University replied: “Anything which causes disruption to our students in this way can’t really be described as completely smooth, and we apologise for the inconvenience. That said, the password problem is the only significant issue that’s come up so far, so once we’re past that we’re confident that the new email service will be a substantial improvement on the previous one.”

IT Services are advising students who encounter difficulties to contact them either via email or telephone to reset their passwords, after which the new system will be accessible. The phone number is 02476 151 000. The University is “investigating whether there’s anything we can do to speed this up or make it easier and as soon as we have an answer we’ll circulate it”.

_This article was amended on 21 August 2010 at 02:49. Quotes were added and information updated._