Infinite Path

Portsmouth University have recently signed up to a service with Google where students now have access to all of their mail, documents and calendars – amongst other features – through Google Apps.

Google Apps can be accessed by any computer with an internet connection and has the benefit of being hosted by Google’s servers. This means that whoever uses Google Apps, whether it be a university, business or other group, there is no requirement to have in-house servers to power the operation.

Portsmouth University have seen impressive take-up so far. More students are using the service to their previous systems which were all run from within the university. The familiarity with Google may be the main reason for this. So many people spend a lot of time using Google services anyway, that the transition to using their Apps facility was probably a straightforward one.

For a student, this facility is very convenient. All data is stored online at all times and it is very easy to create and share documents with fellow students – which is especially useful for group work.

The university itself can add features to the Apps setup and they can also tweak what already exists. Everything is saved as you go along and anything can be retrieved from any computer.

Security and loss of service are the main obstacles that face Google in terms of trying to roll-out such facilities to other education or business organisations. Google has faced much criticism in the past for its problems with loss of service. Relatively long periods of no service have been seen with many of Google’s other services. For a university this could be a big problem. In the case of Portsmouth University, many students are accessing their accounts from various places around the globe. If Google has server failures in different places, at different times, this could have a big impact on communications and productivity.

Google have assured the university that their availability of service will be improved, and that they are also bound by very strict European rulings on security. Portsmouth University are satisfied that any existing problems will be addressed and the service will prove to be popular with, and beneficial to, students and staff.

Will other universities follow suit with these sorts of services? And will businesses see the benefits of not having to run in-house servers which only need to be maintained and paid for? There are clearly cost savings to be made. The question will be whether Google, and other similar service providers, can ensure that functionality is both secure and reliable.