Several Penn State access account-related services, including WebMail and eLion, began a maintenance upgrade over winter break to improve their efficiency, an Information Technology Services (ITS) spokeswoman said.

WebMail and eLion were inaccessible from Dec. 17 to 19 while ITS upgraded Middleware, which is a set of software services that run each time students access WebMail or other Internet sites, ITS spokeswoman Robin Anderson said.

"Basically, we were upgrading the infrastructure of the system," Anderson said. "It is everything that goes on between your Web browser and the computer out there in virtual land."

Application development, data management and system efficiency were improved, she added.

"What this means is that during peak periods of usage, there will be better handling of requests in WebMail and eLion," Anderson said.

Some students said they were relieved that ITS was using the semester break to improve services that had numerous problems last semester.

Donny Brenner (freshman-division of undergraduate studies) said he thought the software upgrade was necessary, especially because of delays when using WebMail.

"WebMail has had so many problems -- it takes forever to load," Brenner said.

The recent upgrade will also prepare the system for future services that are yet to be developed, Anderson added.

She said ITS did not have enough time to complete the upgrades, and the remaining work will be scheduled for later in the semester. "We will continue to find times to minimize the disruption," Anderson said.

Kate Ascah (freshman-special education) said she was not concerned when she could not access WebMail over winter break because she knew maintenance was scheduled.

"It was a good time to do an upgrade, because you don't really need to access eLion over break," Ascah said.

Other students, such as Christian Haag (junior-aerospace engineering), said the upgrade prevented them from accessing registrar services through eLion.

"I have to send my transcripts somewhere to keep a scholarship, and I couldn't do that until recently," Haag said. "When I clicked on 'order transcript,' there was just a blank page. That's never happened to me before."

Software upgrades are typically performed whenever deemed necessary by ITS.

"We are monitoring the usage of applications constantly because we have to stay current with software, which ultimately impacts hardware," Anderson said. "We look at usage patterns and keep up with growth by upgrading."