UA technology officials confirmed this weekend that CatMail, a new campus e-mail system operated by Google, will open today as scheduled.

“”We are definitely a ‘go’ for Monday,”” said Julie Suess, information technology project manager with University Information Technology Services.

Starting today, everyone with a NetID account will have until Dec. 19 to “”opt in”” to the new system, after which the remaining accounts will be transferred automatically, Suess said.

The new system will have the same features as Google’s Gmail service, including basic mailbox functions, document processing applications and calendars, UITS Associate Director Thomas Rees told the Daily Wildcat in October. The accounts will be accessible through a new URL, catmail.arizona.edu, that will replace email.arizona.edu, he added.

The reason for the gradual transfer, Suess explained, is to allow UITS personnel to make sure information is transferred correctly to the new system and to handle any problems that may arise.

“”Can you imagine 40,000 people trying to do the same thing on the same day?”” she said.

UITS has no official prediction for how long the total transfer will take or whether most UA personnel are likely to move their accounts on the first day, she said, adding that there are approximately 63,000 NetID accounts on campus.

One issue which might arise is a minor time delay when stored e-mails are moved from the old to the new system, Suess said. This is expected and should cause no concern, she said.

“”It’s not snap-your-fingers instantaneous.””