No subscription required for this one; read the full article for a timely Google snapshot. It closes with some unsubtle Zimbra posturing that I think could be a leading indicator.
Overall I am increasingly convinced Google is going to be a major player in organizational as well as consumer contexts. 2007 is going to be an excellent year for customers in communication, collaboration, and content managment domains; the revitalized (e.g., by Office 2007 and Office Live, IBM's recent moves, and Google's expanding enterprise forays) competition is going to produce very fast-cycle innovation. I'm also still eager to see what Google will do with the JotSpot technology and team.
BW article excerpt:
For now, Microsoft has little to fear. Many large corporations are wary of having an e-mail system run outside their own walls, where they can't be sure it's secure from hackers and spies. And even Google concedes its services don't have all the bells and whistles of Microsoft's products, such as centralized e-mail backups that help them comply with regulatory rules. "We're not looking to make it us vs. them," swears Dave Girouard, vice-president in charge of Google's enterprise group. "We're giving people choices." Still, his 300-person group's very existence—plus Microsoft's stated aim to extend its Office franchise to the Web—suggests that before long these two titans of tech will be battling over many of the same corporate customers.
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