Abstract:

Electronic mail is recognized within the University of Toronto Computing and Communications division (UTCC) as the first strategic network service that will be deployed within the University of Toronto. While valuable in itself, electronic mail will also lead to an important evolution in layering other day-to-day needs in the administrative, research, instructional and library domains over the production electronic mail service. As such, the ability to deliver a supported, robust, reliable, and potentially ubiquitous service will be central to both the success of an institutional electronic mail service and to new service offerings layered upon it. It is believed that this service will become a critical component in the maturation of information technology services.

This is the final report in a series of reference documents that has attempted to take a comprehensive, disciplined, and institutional approach towards the objective of developing and deploying a strategic electronic mail service within the University of Toronto. This report series has characterized the current usage of electronic mail [Pea91], a method for developing an institutional electronic mail service [CHO92], and the current client needs and requirements for an institutional electronic mail service [DS92]. This report concludes the series by developing, in vendor independent terms, architectural, technical and administrative requirements necessary for the successful deployment of a strategic institutional electronic mail service. It does not consider the specific details of vendor product selection or deployment project planning.

This report evolves from several fundamental expectations, uncovered during this process, that the client base hold about electronic mail:

• Customers expect the application to look like the tools they use on their own computers.
• Customers expect the electronic mail service to provide the same reliability, accessibility, ubiquity and support as the telephone system does, since they need to be able to count on it to support their daily work activities and provide effective communications with work-related colleagues.
• Customers want a short administrative turn-around time (ie. a high ``service velocity'').
• Most customers are basically uninterested in the technical and operational aspects of electronic mail, unless it furthers the above point.
• Customers want a local resource to facilitate training and simple problem resolution efforts.
• Customers want a directory of other electronic mail subscribers to be easily accessible.
• New clients gaining network access are increasingly less able or willing to provide sophisticated technical support simply for electronic mail.
• Customers expect to be able to enclose related working documents in their electronic mail from native computer applications, such as word processors and spreadsheets.
• Customers expect the existence of the service and its subscription procedures to be well advertised.
• The actual daily work function that electronic mail enhances depends on the University domain.

These expectations are incorporated into the design of a strategic institutional electronic mail service by developing a service model that utilizes a strategy of centralizing some components while distributing others. The proposed design centralizes the required service support technology, development efforts, and operational activities. This centralized technical infrastructure permits the service provider to achieve the telephone system-like objectives of reliability, performance and support.

The design utilizes the strategic network infrastructure to distribute the client service-access software onto the client's desktop. It provides ubiquity by having the service-access software utilize strategic communications protocols over a potentially wide variety of data communications media, including dedicated fiber and copper, voice-grade dialup facilities, and switched data services, such as ISDN or Bell Canada's DataPath service. It ensures an appropriate ``service velocity'' by grouping related clients and distributing the administration of each client's service subscription to a local contact person within the group. Finally, it ensures local expertise in administering the client's service and assisting clients with questions and problems by providing training and second-level technical support to the group contact person.

We believe that this design and service model, which decouples the client environment from the technical infrastructure and is neither fully distributed nor fully centralized, will provide an appropriate blend of:

• capital costs
• ongoing costs
• support levels
• client requirements
• reliability characteristics
• performance characteristics
• utilization of strategic infrastructure
• capability for phased implementation
• potential for service evolution

in the forthcoming deployment and operational efforts.

Design of a Strategic Institutional Electronic Mail Service at the University of Toronto

Network Development and Support
University of Toronto Computing Services

October 1992
UTCS-TR-T01-92-002
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• Contents
• Introduction
  • Report Overview
  • Project History
  • A Model for Network Services
    • Toward a Common Meaning
    • Service Infrastructure
    • Deliverables and Providers
• Objectives
  • Service
    • Mission
    • Goals
    • Value
    • Potential Client Base
  • Architecture
    • Coherence
    • Transparency
    • Heterogeneity
    • Scaling
    • Aggregation
    • Performance
      • Reliability
      • Delivery Times
    • Ubiquity
    • Interoperability
      • Infrastructure Interoperability
      • Existing Mail Interoperability
      • Application Interoperability
      • Evolutionary Interoperability
    • Support
• Service Definition
  • Architectural Model
    • Objectives
    • Components
    • Component Relationships
  • Deliverables
• Technical Infrastructure
  • Service Agents
  • Electronic Mail Service System
  • Network Infrastructure
• Administrative Infrastructure
  • Provisioning
    • Publicity
    • Delivery
    • Registration
    • Training
    • Development
  • Maintenance
    • Tracking
    • Billing
    • Client Upgrades
    • Configuration Support
    • Hardware Support
  • Operations
• Vendor Interface
• References
• About this document ...