Engage365 is the CSU branded name for Microsoft’s Office 365 product. Office 365 is an online, cloud based subscription service that provides email and shared calendars. More features will be added later such as ability to create and edit documents online, instant messaging, and web conferencing - all accessible anywhere from nearly any device.
Cloud computing, or being "in the cloud," means that a third-party (in this case, Microsoft) provides the applications via the Internet and stores the data on their servers.
Multiple copies of your data are stored for redundancy purposes. The data is encrypted when accessed from the server. The end result is an online service that has the equivalent reliability and security as an on-campus server.
Faculty and staff email and calendar content will be moved IF it is on the Lotus Notes or Webmail server. If a faculty or staff member has chosen to forward their email to a different account (Gmail, Hotmail, etc.), we will not be able to move the email and calendar content to the new account.
Students will be able to move their current email content to Engage365 by following documentation provided by IS&T. The old account will remain accessible until the end of term Spring Semester 2013. See documentation at http://csuohio.edu/offices/ist/services/training/engage365/
Engage365 is accessible through your web browser or via recent Microsoft Outlook clients. Third-party clients such as Mac Mail can use IMAP to receive e-mail. However, other functions, such as calendaring and global address book, will not work. Login at http://engage365.csuohio.edu
Yes, all forwards will remain. If at some point you would like to start using your Engage365 account directly, you can visit https://campusnet.csuohio.edu to stop the forwarding process.
Client software is an application directly installed on your computer. No clients are required in order to access engage365 because it is a web-based system accessible through browsers. However, many users may prefer to use the Microsoft Outlook client that is usually installed as part of Microsoft Office (Mac and PC). For a complete list of supported clients, please visit the engage365 info page and click on the System Requirements tab.