ASU's partnership with Google has received a positive reaction from students and administration in its first six months, but other state schools have no plans for switching their e-mail systems to Gmail.
Since ASU stopped using the EMMA system last October, students said they have experienced few problems.
"I like that it can hold a lot more mail," said Julie Brady, a family and human development senior.
Brady added that she also receives fewer spam messages with Gmail than other accounts she has had in the past.
Another ASU student, molecular biology sophomore Alex Pasek, said he has never had a problem with ASU Gmail.
Other students may choose to avoid the Gmail system and forward their ASU emails to Hotmail or Yahoo accounts. But business management freshman Michael Loffredo said he likes Google.
"It's really easy to use," Loffredo said.
According to Assistant Vice President Kari Barlow at the University Technology Office, Gmail and the other Google Applications for Education have not had any major outages in the last six months.
"ASU is quite satisfied with the services we're getting from Google," Barlow said. "They have an outstanding up-time."
Barlow said the partnership between ASU and Google is profitable for both parties. ASU is able to use Gmail, Google Docs and a calendar program for free.
"It's certainly a stellar system that we might not be able to provide in-house," Barlow said.
ASU is also spared the task of keeping up with the newest technology by using Google's system, Barlow said.
In exchange, Google gains publicity and has the opportunity to gain loyal student users, Barlow said.
"They're also exposing a large group of people to Google search," Barlow said.
So far, Gmail has been popular at ASU, Barlow said, with approximately 54,000 people using it every week. More than 15,000 people use it every day.
Though Barlow said moving to Google was "one of the easiest migrations I've ever been involved with," other state universities are not prepared to leave their in-house e-mail systems.
At the University of Arizona, the school owns the servers and domains for about 70,000 e-mail accounts that are used by students, staff and retirees, said university spokesman Paul Allvin.
"We have a pretty traditional system where we administer all the e-mail accounts," Allvin said.
Though Allvin said the university has considered Google as an option, there is no current movement to drop UA's WebMail system.
"There's a sense that the system we have serves us better than outsourcing to Google," Allvin said.
At Northern Arizona University, officials also plan to stick with their own e-mail systems.
"We think we have the system that is correct for our university," said Tom Bauer, a NAU spokesman.
Schools including Clemson University, the University of Texas at San Antonio, Arkansas State University and Kennesaw State University have switched their service to Gmail, and Iowa State University and Macalester College have considered it, according to news reports.
Reach the reporter at: claudia.koerner@asu.edu.
