Market
Overview
The
concept of the "Universal Inbox" or the "Unified Inbox" are the underlying currents
driving the messaging marketplace today. A "Universal Inbox" enables a user
to retrieve all forms of electronic communication from one access point. These
forms contain, but are not limited to, e-mail, voice mail, fax, imaging, workflow
and document management. Through implementing a "Universal Inbox" a user is
able to access his or her messages from anywhere at anytime, increasing productivity
and driving down associated operating costs.
The
"Big-Three" groupware vendors, Microsoft, Novell and Lotus, all supply groupware
enabled messaging platforms, which occupy 90% of Fortune 1000s corporate networks.
All three products, Lotus Notes Domino, Novell GroupWise and Microsoft Exchange,
offer "Unified Messaging" (UM) support and integrate well with a wide array
of third party UM products, such as Lucent Technologies Octel Voice Messenger
or Optus FacSys Fax Server. The remaining messaging servers, such as NTMail,
Eudora WorldMail, MailSite and numerous others, concentrate specifically upon
e-mail and message transferring, and do not offer UM support. We therefore define
them as "e-mail" servers and not "messaging" or "groupware" servers.
The
messaging/groupware systems target organizations that not only require e-mail
functionality, but also need remote access capabilities, unified messaging,
shared calendaring, and advanced management and monitoring capabilities. E-mail
systems, on the other hand, either target organizations with limited information
systems budgets, or Internet Service Providers (ISPs) who do not require anything
more than point-to-point e-mail. The typical acquisition cost for a 250 user
groupware enabled e-mail system is about $12,000 (USD), a straight POP3 e-mail
system for 250 users will cost approximately $5,000 (USD), a little less than
half that of the groupware systems. However the implementation service costs
of a POP3 e-mail system, if outsourced will cost approximately $75 (USD) per
client seat, far outweighing the initial product cost.
The
messaging market is continuing to grow in relation to the Internet. As more
and more users gain e-mail access, and utilize it as their primary means of
communication to the outside world, businesses are forced into the bigger, faster
and greater systems. In 1998 the estimated number of e-mail users on the Internet
had surpassed 200,000,000 and is expected to surpass 250,000,000 by the 2001.
The average medium sized corporation (500 - 1000 users) will take anywhere form
3-6 months to evaluate and finalize a e-mail software purchase decision, larger
scale organizations (1000-50,000 users) will generally take twice that time
to complete the initial purchase cycle. Once a purchase is finalized, the adjacent
third party products come into play. For instance, X Company implements Lotus
Notes, and then decides they would like to incorporate an inbound and outbound
fax solution, or an integrated voice-mail system. The sales cycle restarts and
technical evaluation begins.
Market
Winners
The
two leading groupware enabled mail systems, both in market share and new installations
are Lotus Notes Domino and Microsoft Exchange. Novell's GroupWise, although
feature rich, is a distant third in new installations partly due to its earlier
corporate viability issues and its high initial product acquisition cost. Microsoft's
Exchange offering, first released in 1997, has climbed to the top of the messaging
hill in new installations, offering the lowest initial acquisition cost, bundled
client software as part of Microsoft office and feature rich functionality.
Lotus Notes is continuing to improve, not only in feature functionality, but
improving in the web space with their Domino server.
Sendmail
offers the leading POP3 e-mail system, having a 78% ISP installation presence.
Sendmail offers strong security and enhanced message-transfer processing coupled
with a low acquisition cost.
Market
Challengers
Due
to the secure choke-hold that Novell, Microsoft and Lotus have on the groupware
enabled e-mail market, any challengers have been removed. The competition emanates
from within. Lotus and Microsoft break new ground with each new release while
Novell's GroupWise struggles to maintain its existing client base. GroupWise
is packed with Universal Messaging features such as built-in imaging, document
management and workflow. If Novell can aggressively market these features while
driving down initial ownership costs, GroupWise could feasibly make a comeback.
Sendmail
has the Internet Service Provider market virtually "locked-up", and holds over
75% of the Internet's 8,000 + ISPs. Challenges may come from Eudora WorldMail
or NTMail, which offer low cost and decent processing, but fail to offer strong
anti-spam and anti-virus features with their point-to-point e-mail offering.
Market
Losers
GroupWise
is consistently losing market share to both Microsoft and Lotus, primarily due
to Novell's long term corporate viability. Novell has failed to market GroupWise
effectively and is therefore "nursing" the existing installation base, hoping
to prevent corporations from migrating to either Lotus Notes or Microsoft Exchange.
GroupWise is not a bad e-mail system. In fact, GroupWise offers a strong "out
of the box" Unified Messaging solution. However, Novell must enhance its image
in order to stop maintaining and start growing its market share.
Market
Predictions
We
believe that over the next five years the messaging market will grow an additional
200,000,000 seats, or essentially double its existing size. This will create
a fantastic opportunity for the groupware, POP3 and 3rd party accessory markets.
We also believe that the unified messaging market will begin to devour the wireless
market with integrated messaging functionality. Five years from now a user will
be able to retrieve anything from voice mail to facsimiles on a pocket sized
PDA.
Vendor
Recommendations
|
VENDOR
|
PRODUCT
|
RECOMMENDATIONS
|
| Microsoft |
Exchange |
1.Continue
to expand Unified Messaging Platform.
2. Continue
to improve Internet or Web Based Functionality
3. Continue
to improve distributed architecture and database configurations
4. Improve
Disaster Recovery, Improve Availability
5. Continue
to effectively market, through conferences and web
|
| Lotus |
Notes |
1. Enhance
Unified Messaging through 3rd Party partnering
2. Continue
to improve Domino's Web Based Functionality
3. Improve
the front-end client to appeal to base end users.
4. Improve
Administration Interface
5. Continue
to effectively market through conferences and web
|
| Novell |
GroupWise |
1. Improve
corporate viability image through effective marketing
2. Concentrate
development time on database configuration
3. Lower
initial software license purchase cost to compete with Lotus and Microsoft.
4. Improve
disaster recovery, increase availability
5. Create
a dedicated messaging conference. Move away from all-in-one Novell " Brain-Share"
Conference
|
User
Recommendations
The messaging market
will affect all e-mail users directly with increased functionality offerings,
enhanced ease of use and increased stability. The old saying was " No one was
ever fired for buying IBM ". At this time, the same clich can now be applied
to Microsoft or Lotus (which is IBM). From a longevity perspective, we believe
that Lotus and Microsoft will continue to be market leaders for the foreseeable
future. The same cannot be said for GroupWise unless it makes the changes documented
above.
If you are either
migrating a corporate wide e-mail system, your choice for a destination groupware
e-mail system should be between Lotus and Microsoft. GroupWise can be viewed
as essentially a legacy e-mail system and should not be implemented from scratch
at the present time. If Novell can enhance its long term image over the next
couple of years, GroupWise may again become a viable alternative.