Radicati: Hosted E-mail Market Heats Up as Providers Add Support for Microsoft Hosted Exchange Server 2007.

A new study by The Radicati Group forecasts that the worldwide hosted e-mail market installed base will grow from 1.4 billion mailboxes in 2007, to nearly 2 billion mailboxes by year-end 2011.

… Palo Alto, CA – September 10, 2007 – The latest study by The Radicati Group, Inc., “Hosted E-mail Market, 2007-2011,” offers an in-depth analysis of the worldwide market for Hosted E-mail services. It provides market trends, installed base and revenue market share by provider, four-year forecasts, breakouts by region, business size, and e-mail platforms. The study provides detailed market share for leading Microsoft Hosted Exchange and hosted IBM Lotus Domino platforms.

The market for Hosted E-mail is primarily driven by companies that require cost-effective e-mail deployment and management to accommodate their user bases. Hosted Business e-mail providers are including more value-added services, such as: wireless support, archiving, compliance, e-mail security, IM, unified communications, and more. Microsoft Hosted Exchange Server 2007 is a platform of choice for many Hosted Business e-mail providers that are looking to add advanced features and functionality.

The study also discusses the aggressive competition in the ISP/Webmail market, as many leading ISP/Webmail providers are releasing Web 2.0 GUIs based on AJAX, DHTML, and other technologies, which allow customizable user interfaces with desktop-like features. …

“Microsoft Hosted Exchange Server 2007 is a platform of choice for many Hosted Business e-mail providers that are looking to add advanced features and functionality” … I wonder what the impact is on marketshare compared to competitive platforms.