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R.I.P. Exchange?
11 comments- TAGS:Cisco, e-mail, Exchange, groupware, Microsoft, PostPath
- IT TOPICS:Business Intelligence, Development, Enterprise Software & Services, Linux, Management, Networking, Open Source, Operating Systems, Servers & Data Center, Software
Over the years, many of Microsoft monopolies have been successfully attacked by open source: Linux on the server; Apache for Web servers; Firefox for Web browsers; and so on. The one exception, and it's a big one, is business e-mail. Exchange, with 65% of the market, owns business groupware and e-mail. Things are about to change.
Cisco is buying PostPath, and that is going to kick Exchange in the head. You see, it's an open-source based server program that doesn't just do e-mail and groupware, it actually has reverse-engineered Microsoft Exchange's protocols. Result: To someone sitting at a desk looking at your copy of Outlook, you won't be able to tell the difference.
Better still, since PostPath does this back in the server room without any need to install any programs on individual users' PCs, it's also really easy for IT staffers to roll it out. The only real difference? It will be cheaper, probably a good deal cheaper, than Microsoft Exchange's CAL (Client Access Licenses).
I like this idea. While I have years of experience as an enterprise e-mail administrator, I did my work before Exchange came along. Still, I have done some e-mail consulting with shops using Exchange. Oh, the pain! The agony! The miserable TCO (total cost of ownership)!
Of course, open-source groupware servers, like Scalix, Open-Xchange and Zimbra have been trying to replace Exchange for years. Some of them are quite good, but none, including PostPath, have really caught on. Things are going to be different now.
I can say that and feel very sure about it because this time it's Cisco, the network power house, that's behind an Exchange alternative. Cisco, ever since Microsoft started competing with them in VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) has had little love for Microsoft. With PostPath, combined with their VoIP offering and their Web conferencing service, WebEx, Cisco will have an extremely compelling alternative to Exchange.
In addition, I know many IT people who are passionately loyal to Cisco. If Cisco makes it, and they can dump Exchange at the same time, they are so there.
How compelling? I've already have heard from two Exchange administrators asking me when I think Cisco will roll out a combined offering? My answer, by the by, is the second quarter of 2009 at the earliest.
While Cisco is getting ready to smack Exchange around, there's another open-development that's spelling trouble for Exchange: OpenChange. This project, which is being created in partnership with Samba, is taking Exchange's protocols, which the European Union forced Microsoft to reveal, will enable any open-source groupware developer to create an Exchange/Outlook compatible server.
I think with Cisco and PostPath on one side and the developers building on OpenChange on the other, Exchange's days at the top of the business e-mail server heap are numbered. And, speaking for most of the Exchange administrators I have known, the day can't come soon enough.
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