Kady Bell
Arts Editor

Following in the footsteps of 80 percent of other colleges in California, the University of La Verne’s Office of Information and Technology will begin migration of its Mirapoint e-mail system to Luminis, a campus portal meant to provide both a centered authentication process and an integrated Internet experience in the next year.

Though the Luminis portal system will only provide basic services at first, to be enacted during winter or spring break, multiple benefits will be forthcoming. A single validation process, allowing access to MyULV, Webmail, Blackboard and school and personal calendars, as well as to a mass communication center, by which messages would be related to students, staff and faculty at once, will be implemented in phases.

“In the long run, it will provide one-stop-shopping; you’ll be able to log-in and access everything,” said Clive Houston-Brown, chief information officer.

The need to switch e-mail systems came about during the summer as a solution to multiple problems, though the introduction of a portal system has been a longtime strategic goal.

“This is where we want to direct our money this year; it’s a high priority,” Houston-Brown said.

Mirapoint, ULV’s former provider, sent notice that the system would need to undergo an expensive overhaul or be considered outdated by January 2007.

Paying individual licensing fees on an annual basis was also becoming overly hefty, preventing student accessibility to simple features such as a calendar.

Updating to an Internet portal will also add the extra advantage of exempting OIT from the “immediacy clause” of the Communications Assistance Law Enforcement Act, which has required organizations to allow law enforcement officers instant access to Internet traffic upon the receipt of a subpoena, Houston-Brown said.

Sunguard HE, the company that wrote the BANNER financial aid system, will perform the installation of the software, while OIT staff will be performing the daunting task of migration, transferring the Mirapoint e-mail database to Luminis.

The migration is expected to take about five days, though obstacles could arise

“Anytime you implement a major new technology there could be complications,” Houston-Brown said. “We just have to make sure we’re as well prepared as possible.”

Tim Fraser, OIT director of enterprise operations, said the new portal would be beneficial to all who used it, including staff attending to maintenance, as it provided an intuitive interface and the ability to personalize information according to channels; different sections divided by interest.

“This solution provides us an opportunity for the future; it can be tailored by student needs and majors and there’s room for a lot of improvement of communication,” Fraser said. “We want [the system] to be reliable 24 hours, seven days a week and to provide valuable information.”

Fraser also said OIT staff looked forward to the ability to concentrate on other aspects of the system besides mass mailing, since the portal includes targeted messaging capabilities.

The portal will replace MyULV, allowing multiple channels of information to be displayed together — new message alert, financial aid and registration information, an automatic scheduling feature, and even campus-wide events and notices.

“It will bring disparate activities together with one password,” Fraser said. “Obviously there is an increased demand for services over the Web and we feel that this is a golden opportunity to provide these services.”

Students such as Amanda Villarosa, a freshman undeclared major who said she had never used a portal system such as Luminis, can expect a simplified and interactive experience.

“I usually just log into my e-mail [account] and that’s it, but it would probably be a lot easier to use,” Villarosa said.

Software installation, operational analysis and e-mail migration are all tentatively scheduled to take place over winter or spring break.

Kady Bell can be reached at rzezna65@yahoo.com.