Cmail is the name Cornell uses to refer to the services currently provided through Google Apps Education Edition. Cmail provides integrated email, calendar, file storage, and web site services for all current undergraduate, graduate, and professional students. It also provides collaboration tools that, for example, allow groups to review and edit, in real time, shared files.
Cmail includes Gmail with a 25-GB mailbox and built-in voice and video chat, Google Calendar, Google Docs, and more. All about Cmail.
A second service for email, calendar, and collaboration -- Umail -- may be available in the future. At this point, a date has not been determined. Powered by Microsoft Live@edu with Outlook Live, Umail would include Outlook Live email and calendar with a 10-GB mailbox, Office Live Workspace, SkyDrive with 25 GB of storage, and more.
Cmail accounts are provided automatically to all students (including undergraduates, graduate students, and professional students). To use your Cmail account, you simply need to set it up. Your email address is your NetID@cornell.edu (for example, pqs665@cornell.edu).
Generally speaking, faculty and staff do not have Cmail accounts, and undergraduate students do not have accounts on the central Exchange service that faculty, staff, retirees, and some graduate students use. Exceptions can be made to meet very specific needs.
Will I still have a Cornell email address if I use Cmail?
Yes. No matter where you access your Cornell email, whether that's through Cmail or another email account you have, your Cornell email address will still be your NetID@cornell.edu (for example, pqs665@cornell.edu).
Do I have to use Cmail for my email?
No. Cmail is Cornell's email service for students, but if you don't want to use it, simply use Who I Am to route your Cornell email to the external email account of your choice. Cmail provides more services than just email, however, and you may want to use some of them.
Please note: You have to route your Cornell email somewhere.
When I use Cmail services, does that count toward my NUBB allocation?
Yes. Because Cmail services are hosted outside of Cornell's networks, using them counts toward the 50 GB of off-campus (Internet) traffic that each student is given each month. The usage of most students is far below that threshold each month.
Per the Network Usage-Based Billing (NUBB) policy, usage above 50 GB per month is billed at a fraction of a cent per megabyte.
Why does Cornell provide student email through Cmail?
The primary reason is to provide students with a broader and better set of services than Cornell's budget allows. For example, Cmail (Google Apps) provides each student with much more online storage space -- 25 GB on Google -- than Cornell could provide.
I'm a undergraduate student employee and I need to work with faculty or staff calendars in Exchange. Can I do that with my Cmail account?
No, Cmail cannot access faculty/staff Exchange accounts. You will need to activate an undergraduate Exchange account, which you can use just for your job. These accounts are very small, so you'll still need to use Cmail (or an external email account of your choice) to manage your own email and calendar.
I'm a graduate or professional student and my advisor would like me to have an Exchange account. Can I get one?
Yes. Graduate and professional students can activate a 1-GB graduate/professional student Exchange account to use to perform university business while at Cornell. (Your department or unit is responsible for determining whether your work is considered university business.)
Can I use an Exchange Group Account with my Cmail account?
Not with your Cmail account, but you can access an Exchange Group Account using your NetID and password. The easiest way is by using your web browser to go to Outlook Web Access.
The person who owns or administers the Exchange Group Account must use the EGA Tool (what's the EGA Tool?) to grant you Access rights, then you can use Outlook Web Access to view the account.
Who chose Google Apps and Microsoft Live?
Near the end of 2007, two task forces, one for faculty and staff and one for students, were commissioned to evaluate the university's email and calendar services. Seven students and eight faculty and staff served on the Task Force for Student Personal Productivity Services.
The task force engaged in a careful and thoughtful analysis that included assessment of student needs via a random survey, discussions with other universities, and vendor responses to a Request For Purchase (RFP).
Part of their analysis included gathering statistics on Cornell's email forwarding service, which showed that over 4,000 students routed their Cornell mail to a Google account, over 600 routed to a HotMail account, and smaller numbers to other vendor domains (AOL, RoadRunner, etc.)
In May 2008, the student task force recommended Google Apps Education Edition and Microsoft Live@edu with Outlook Live as the best options for students. President Skorton and Cornell's senior administrators accepted this recommendation (see the final report) in summer 2008.
Have other colleges and universities done this?
Yes. Many offer either Google Apps or Microsoft Live, and some offer both. Cornell is continuing to work toward offering both, because doing so has several advantages:
What's the benefit for Google?
One benefit is that Google has an opportunity to build a student's preference for its services, with the hope that the student will continue using its services after graduation, at which point Google could include advertisements again. While a student is enrolled at Cornell, Google provides these services without any advertising.
If Umail becomes available, the same benefits would apply to Microsoft.
If it becomes available, would Umail be integrated with the central Exchange system that faculty and staff are using?
No. Although Umail would include Outlook Live and may seem very similar to the Outlook that faculty and staff use with Cornell's central Exchange service, it would be completely separate. Umail's calendar service, for example, would not be integrated with the faculty and staff's calendar service.
