Gartner analysts deem Gmail fit to fight enterprise email market

Ahead of their summit, which was scheduled to take place on the 20th of September, 2011, in London, analysts at Gartner had an important revelation to make. According to the research conducted by its senior analysts, the five-year old, popular mail service launched by Google has already got what it takes to set itself on par with rival Microsoft's Outlook, and other cloud-based mail services existing in the enterprise email market. Matthew Cain, Research Vice President, Gartner stated that, "The road to its enterprise enlightenment has been long and bumpy, but Gmail should now be considered a mainstream cloud email supplier."

Surging ahead..

Elborating further, Cain added that leaving aside Microsoft Exchange, Gmail has been the only one in this space to have managed not only to exist, but also perform better than most others. According to the research, other email service providers, like Novell GroupWise, IBM Lotus Notes/Domino, Cisco and VMware's Zimbra have either closed down, or have lost steam. However, analysts at Gartner also ring a bell of caution. The research reveals that Gmail still has a long way to go, especially when it comes to updating it with features useful for niche segments, like banks and other financial institutions. Cain also revealed that while the market share of Gmail email enterprise is at 1 percent, it houses more than half of the enterprise email market. Cloud email, too is poised to touch the 55 percent mark from the existing 3-4 percent mark by 2020.