p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:10.0pt;margin-left:0in;line-height:115%;font-size:11.0pt;font-family:'Calibri','sans-serif';} a:link, span.MsoHyperlink {color:blue;text-decoration:underline;text-underline:single;} a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed {color:purple;text-decoration:underline;text-underline:single;} .MsoChpDefault {;} .MsoPapDefault {margin-bottom:10.0pt;line-height:115%;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in;margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:10.0pt;margin-left:0in;line-height:115%;font-size:11.0pt;font-family:'Calibri','sans-serif';} .MsoChpDefault {;} .MsoPapDefault {margin-bottom:10.0pt;line-height:115%;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in;margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} Our company is going through a rebranding and we are for the most part will be retooling our entire IT infrastructure. One of my tasks has been to develop a new email naming convention for this initiative. We currently have ~250 employees and plan on doubling in the next 5 years. Our naming schema as it stands is: firstname@example.com (john@example.com) if that is already taken; we then use fistnamelastinital@example.com (johnd@example.com). This method has proven itself to be very confusing and needs to be changed. To thwart confusion we have considered using firstname.lastname@example.com (john.doe@example.com) but people opposing this schema are worried that email address will be too long. The same people have pointed out that Microsoft uses firstinitalLastname@microsoft.com (jdoe@example.com) and was wondering if that method is viable? If so, how does Microsoft implement a schema like this given the number of people they employ? If this discussion is outside the scope of this forum I apologize, but any help would be much appreciated. Regards,Joe

Why is firstname.lastname@ too long? I've been using that format at my current work place since Ifirst had an Internet email account back in the early 90s.90% of designs that I see and do use this format. Unless your domain name is massively long I don't see the problem. I don't work for Microsoft but I'm pretty darn sure they don't use FirstInitialLastname@. My understanding is that they use an 8-character alias that is generated for all or most internal systems. That can be a mix of first name and last name characters, etc. In fact, a lot of Microsoft people now use firstname.lastname@ as it's just impossible to guess someone's email address if you don't know their alias. Just my 0.02.

Hi Joe, The best choice is the most suitable, you should deploy the email naming convention according to your needs. Related article for your reference: Understanding E-Mail Address Policies http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb232171.aspx New E-Mail Address Policy Wizard > E-Mail Addresses Page > SMTP E-Mail Address http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb124086.aspx Thanks, Elvis

I also have an article covering this topic in more details, which you may find useful: http://www.msexchange.org/articles_tutorials/exchange-server-2007/management-administration/managing-email-address-policies.html